Love your Peaches, Wanna shake your tree...

Finally - Peaches are available! I've been eye-balling this recipe forever. I love peach bellini, and when I saw a cupcake variation of one of my favorite drinks, I knew I HAD to do it. It was totally worth the wait. These cupcakes are probably in my top 5, they were so good. I'm never one to brag, but oh my goodness....they were tasty.

My biggest obstacle was locating some good champagne for these. I'm not a big wine or champagne drinker, so when I have no guidance on what kind to pick, I'm a bit lost. After staring at the shelves of bottles I decided on Barefoot Bubbly - Moscato Spumante.
I chose this one because I have discovered I really enjoy Moscato. It's nice and sweet, which I dig. Many wines are way to dry for my taste buds, but the Moscato is just right. Perhaps one day I'll learn how to drink wine, but for now, I'll stick with the sweet stuff.
Anyway, as I was saying, I didn't know what to buy, so I bought a bottle of the Barefoot.
It was perfect! This cupcake would be wonderful for a bridal shower, or even a wedding... 2 thumbs up!

Peach Bellini Cupcake
adapted from Sing for your Supper, and You'll get Breakfast

For the Cupcake:

1 c unsalted butter, room temperature
2 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
6 egg whites
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3/4 c champagne
1/4 c Peach Schnapps
1 fresh, not quite ripe, peach, peeled & diced

For the Frosting:

1/2 c unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 c shortening
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 Tbsp water
1 tsp Peach Schnapps
1/4 c champagne
5 c confectioners' sugar
Wilton Golden Yellow icing color (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line your cupcake pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a glass measuring cup combine champagne and schnapps. Set this aside, too.
In your mixer bowl, cream butter and sugar together for about 1 minute at medium speed. Add vanilla, and beat for 1 more minute. Scrape down your bowl, then begin adding egg whites one at a time, allowing each white to incorporate completely. Once all whites are added, batter will look fluffy, almost like marshmallow fluff. Scrape down your bowl again, then set speed to low. Slowly add about 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by 1/2 of the champagne mixture. Repeat this, then add the last bit of flour mixture. Scrape down your bowl, then mix again at low speed for another 15 seconds, to ensure all is properly combined. Remove bowl from mixer, then stir in your diced peaches. I used a not quite ripe peach because I didn't want it to completely turn to mush in the baking process. The result was perfect peach pieces within the cupcake.

Once batter is ready to go, scoop enough batter to fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full. The batter will rise nicely, so no need to over-fill the pans. Bake these for 15-17 minuges, or until tops bounce back when touched. Cool cupcakes in pans for about 10 minute, then remove them to a wire rack to continue to cool. You should get about 28 cupcakes out of this batch.

While cupcakes continue to cool, prep your frosting. Cream butter, shortening, vanilla, schnapps, about 1/2 of your water, and a couple Tbsp champagne. (I started out with 1/4 c, but only used about 3 1/2 Tbsp in the end.)
Cream all these together, then slowly begin adding confectioners' sugar. If frosting is too stiff, add additional water or champagne, to taste. If you want, you can add some icing color. I added a bit of Golden Yellow, to give it a slight hint of orange/yellow...but not too much. I also wanted to make them sparkle, so I added a bit of yellow sugar.