Champagne Cupcakes

For cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla.

In another bowl, mix together flour, soda, powder and salt, set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together ½ cup champagne and ½ cup sour cream.

Add flour and champagne mixture alternately to the creamed mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Batter will be thick.

Fill cupcake papers about ¾ full. Bake for 17-22 minutes. Let cool. To check if cupcakes are ready, insert toothpick into cupcake, if it comes out clean, they are ready.

For creme filling:

In a medium bowl, whisk cornstarch into ¼ cup of heavy cream. Combine the remaining heavy cream, sugar and ½ cup champagne in a saucepan; bring to a boil then remove from heat.

Beat the whole egg and egg yolks into the cornstarch and cream mixture. Pour a bit of the boiling champagne mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so the eggs do not cook. Return the remaining champagne/heavy cream mixture to a boil. Pour in the warmed egg mixture in a stream, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.

Cut a divot out of the top of each cupcake and fill with pastry cream. Trim the cut-out cake pieces flat to make a “lid” and place on top of the filled divot.

For frosting:

Place 1 cup of champagne in a small saucepan. Simmer over medium-high heat until reduced to 2 tablespoons. Transfer to a small bowl and allow to cool.

In a medium bowl, cream softened butter and powdered sugar together. Once the frosting is thick and fluffy, pour in the reduced champagne plus 1 tablespoon champagne from the bottle and mix well. (If frosting isn’t thick enough, add more icing sugar.) Ice the cooled cupcakes – and consume!