Alice in Cupcakeland

I was in the supermarket the other day and came across those cute little bottles of baby cham they sell. I don't actually drink the stuff, but I've always thought those bottles were extremely cute so I decided to find something to do with them!

Ingredients

2 3/4 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 c butter
2 c sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup champagne*
3 ripe pears, peeled, cored and grated OR
1 cup canned pears, grated and well drained


Preheat your oven to 170C and line 2 x 12 hole cupcake pans.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until they are fluffy and create light peaks, this will take a couple of minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure each one is thoroughly blended before you add the next.

Sift the flour, baking soda and salt into another bowl, then slowly add it to the batter, little by little to ensure that you're knocking in as much air as you're knocking out. This method of adding the dry ingredients ensures a really light cupcake, so be sure not to skip this as we've got a heavy ingredient to add yet! Make sure it's completely blended.

Add the vanilla and champagne to the mix and beat on high for at least 3 minutes. You should have a nice smooth and airy mixture at this point. Finally, add the pears to the mix on a slow speed.

Spoon the mixture into the cupcake pans, filling to around 3/4. Bake for 20- 25 minutes or until they are golden brown, and spring back.

Icing

1/8 c softened butter
120 g cream cheese
1 1/2 c icing sugar
1 TBS champagne

To make the icing, cream the butter and cream cheese and add the icing sugar using a low speed. Switch to a high speed and mix until blended - you can add more icing sugar if you feel it's a little wet.

Variation

You can make these cupcakes even more special by using a rose champagne, and adding a tiny drop (about the size of a pin head - no more!) to each your batter and icing to create a light pastel pink colour.