Champagne Pear Cupcakes

Recipe from Familia Bencomo
I tried this recipe and it is wonderfully moist and yummy. But be careful! The champagne tends to get a little messy when trying to incorporate it into the batter with an upright/standing mixer. I got batter and champagne/vanilla extract EVERYWHERE!

Yields about 30 cupcakes

Ingredients for Cupcakes

• 2 3/4 cups of All-Purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 firm-ish but ripe pears, peeled, cored, and grated (I used 4 pears and just washed them off and grated them. No peeling or coring for me!)
• 1 cup champagne

Ingredients for Frosting

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temp/softened
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temp/softened
• Up to 4 cups powdered sugar sifted (I didn't sift mine & it turned out fine)
• 2 tablespoons champagne (I eyeballed it. The original recipe says you might want to up it but make sure it's not runny.)

So here's what you do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line your muffin tins with cupcake papers.
2. In a small bowl sift the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set this mixture aside.
3. In a mixer (or a large bowl), cream the butter and sugar together until well mixed and airy.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, making sure each one is fully incorporated before adding the next one.
5. Slowly (and I do mean slowly!) add in the flour mixture. (When I followed the original recipe it suggested adding the mixture 1/3 at a time and it worked wonderfully.) Make sure all of this is fully incorporated!
6. Stir in the vanilla and champagne (BUT watch out for spilling!)
7. Stir in the pears. (I suppose you could puree the pears, but what is the fun in that?)
8. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins. (Be careful not to over fill!)
9. Bake your cupcakes for about 20 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on them at about the 10 minute mark.

For the Frosting:

1. Mix cream cheese and butter together until fully incorporated and looking a little light in color.
2. Add powdered sugar. (I did 1/2 a cup at a time.)
3. Add champagne.
4. Mix the rest of your confectioners' sugar into the frosting. Add as much of the sugar as you want to get the right consistency you're looking for.

Wait until your cupcakes have completely cooled (aka room temperature) before you attempt to put frosting on them. Otherwise, your icing is going to melt and just run all over your cupcakes and become a huge mess.

And last, but not least, ENJOY!