I am sooo excited to share these cupcakes with y’all today because they’re heart-shaped and dainty and pink and they made me so happy while I was making them. All of that and I haven’t even mentioned the part about them being moscato flavored.
Ah, moscato. The gateway wine. (Lol, at least for me.) I do tend to like the sweeter wines the best, but I thought it would also make a lovely flavor for a Valentine’s cupcake.
moscato reduction
If you can believe it, there is a whole bottle of moscato in these cupcakes. (!!!) I know. It doesn’t look like it. But all you have to do is pick up a bottle of your fave (any sweet, pink wine will do really) and pour it into a saucepan on the stove. Bring it to a boil, lower it to a simmer, and let it reduce until you have about 2/3 cup total. It’ll be thicker and almost syrupy, but more importantly, it will have the flavor of a whole bottle of wine with a lot less liquid.
This is helpful for a lot of reasons! You could pour wine directly from the bottle into a measuring cup and add 2/3 cup to your cake batter, but you probably won’t be able to actually taste much of the wine flavor in the final product. You could add more liquid, but that will alter the texture of the batter and more than likely cause it to be too thin. So we reduce it in a saucepan and let a lot of the liquid evaporate, but we keep all the flavor. Yay science!
The moscato reduction also adds to the color of these cupcakes! The reduction itself had a dark pink, jewel-toned hue. It gave the batter a pale pink color, and I added the tiniest dab of pink gel food coloring to enhance it a little bit. Same with the frosting!
Aside from the reduction, these cupcakes are pretty straightforward. The cake itself is one-bowl and oil-based instead of butter-based for easy mixin’. The frosting is pretty standard for this blog and uses a mix of butter and vegetable shortening, but you could use all butter if you’d like! And lastly, if you don’t have a heart cupcake pan or don’t want to bother with ordering one, you can absolutely make these in a regular cupcake/muffin pan.
Happy baking!
Pink Moscato Cupcakes
Ingredients
Moscato Reduction
- 1 bottle of your favorite moscato I used Barefoot Pink Moscato
Pink Moscato Cake
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tbsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¾ cups sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ⅔ cup moscato reduction
- Small dab of pink gel food coloring
Pink Moscato Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- ½ 8-oz block vegetable shortening
- 2 tbsp moscato reduction
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- Small dab of pink gel food coloring
Instructions
Moscato Reduction
- Pour moscato into a medium saucepan over medium-high height and bring a boil. Lower to a simmer and let cook until reduced to about ⅔ cup, gently swirling the pot occasionally. This could take between 30-40 minutes. Keep a glass measuring cup nearby for easy measuring. Remember the reduction will be hot so pour carefully and over the sink. Return the reduction to the saucepan to continue cooking if there’s still too much. You’ll need about ⅔ cup for the cake batter and 2 tablespoons for the frosting, so slightly more than ⅔ cup is fine. You can just eyeball it!
- Once the reduction is done, let it cool to room temperature. You can also make this a day or two in advance. Just cover and store in the refrigerator overnight.
Pink Moscato Cupcakes
- To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350°F and spray a heart-shaped cupcake pan (or regular cupcake pan) with baking spray with flour. (If using a regular cupcake pan, you can use paper liners if you’d like!)
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Mix on medium-low speed with a mixer. Add oil and moscato reduction. Mix until incorporated. Using a toothpick, add a small dab of pink gel food coloring and mix well. Add more food coloring if desired.
- Spoon batter into the prepared pan, filling cavities about ⅔ full. (I like to place the silicone baking mold on a sheet pan just to make it easier to move.) Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until slightly golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Remove from oven and let the cupcakes cool in the mold for 10-15 minutes. Use a knife to help life the cupcakes from the mold. Let cupcakes cool on a wire rack. (If you only have one six-cavity silicone baking mold, repeat with remaining cake batter.)
Pink Moscato Frosting
- To make the frosting, cream butter and shortening together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add moscato reduction and half of powdered sugar. Mix on low speed until mostly combined, and high speed until completely combined. Repeat with second half of powdered sugar. Add food coloring if desired.
- Transfer frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe frosting onto coole cupcakes and garnish with sprinkles. Store in an airtight container.
Notes
These were a very different twist on your average cupcake – simply delicious!
Thank you!! Thanks for testing them for me!