Tag Archives: The Sunday Sparkle

Cupcake and Cocktail | Gluten-free St. Germain Cupcake

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This cupcake and cocktail is dedicated to my sister, Catherine, who introduced me to the St. Germain Cocktail during a trip I took to visit her in Boston over the summer of 2008. Cat’s roommate at the time, Ria, brought home a bottle of St. Germain, and she fixed us a beautiful glass of this amazing concoction that I can only imagine Greek gods drink on an everyday basis. A mixture of sparkling wine, St. Germain’s Elderflower liquor,  club soda, and garnished with fresh lemon,  it soon became my new favorite cocktail. Leisurely sitting on Cat and Ria’s back deck at their cozy apartment on Cherry Street, we enjoyed this sparkling drink and even more sparkling conversation. It was one of those summer evenings where you just want to freeze time and live in that moment forever. That’s why I thought a St. Germain cupcake and cocktail pairing would be the perfect way to recreate that carefree, summertime feeling. To really dedicate this cupcake and cocktail to my sister, I had to develop a gluten-free version of this St. Germain cupcake. Which wasn’t really that difficult, because I had never created a regular version to begin with! So I was really starting from scratch, pun intended. Catherine was just recently diagnosed with celiac disease, which means her body can’t tolerate gluten, even in the smallest amounts. She has to stay away from wheat, flour, rye, and barley. Most people know someone with a gluten allergy or intolerance, and finding quality baked goods can be a challenge. Cat has told me that it’s really hard to find gluten-free cupcakes that actually taste good, because most cupcakes are made with all-purpose flour. Since she was visiting me in Santa Barbara this week, I wanted to surprise her with a gluten-free cupcake that actually tasted delicious, and that the ordinary person without a gluten-allergy would try and love as well. After a few attempts, I came up with this fabulous recipe.
*Spoiler alert – Cat LOVED the St. Germain cupcake!!!
St. Germain Cocktail
Ingredients:
  • 2 parts dry sparkling wine (chilled)
  • 1 1/2 parts St. Germain
  • 2 parts club soda (chilled)
  • lemon twists for garnish

How:

Stir ingredients together in a champagne flute or tall Tom Collins glass. Garnish with a lemon twist. Pair with gluten-free St. Germain cupcake. Recipe below.

 

Gluten-free St. Germain Cupcakes
Ingredients:
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 5 tablespoons butter
  • 1 1/4 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
  • 2/3 cup St. Germain Elderflower Liquor
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

How:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixer, cream together eggs, egg yolk, butter, and sugar. Add baking soda, salt, and vanilla extract. Slowly alternate adding the gluten-free flour and the St. Germain liqour. Mix until thoroughly combined. Fill cupcake liners almost to the top (gluten-free cupcakes don’t rise as easily) and bake for 20 minutes, or until a fork comes out clean.

Gluten-free Champagne Buttercream

  • 2 sticks butter
  • 4 oz cream cheese
  • 1/2 cup dry champagne (such as Andre Brut Extra Dry)
  • 3 cups powdered sugar

How:

In a stand mixer, cream together butter and cream cheese. Slowly add the champagne, until thoroughly combined. Little by little, add the powdered sugar and mix until frosting is light and fluffy.

 

 

 

Wine Wednesday | Black Bart Syrah 2005

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Happy Wine Wednesday! This week I’m on spring break from the charter school where I teach art and cooking classes at a few days a week, which is reason to celebrate with a special occasion wine. In about an hour I’m going to take a gorgeous drive down the coast from Santa Barbara to Malibu, to drop off some cupcakes and cupcake wrappers for a wedding at The Sunset Restaurant. With that said, I’m feeling quite glitzy and a little impulsive, like I could just stay down in Malibu and drink $50 bottles of amazing wine in the sun all day and never come back. This Black Bart Syrah by Krupp Brothers is exactly the sort of luxurious wine you want to bring out for such an occasion, when you just want to indulge in a bottle of wine you know is going to be fantastic.

So what was the occasion in which I tried this Syrah? A little while ago, when I lived with my former roommate, Cupcake Wars baking assistant, and electrical engineering Ph.D GRADUATE, Erica, we decided to host a blind wine tasting for just three wines. A bottle less than $10, a bottle around $25, and a $50 bottle of wine. We invited lots of friends over, and of course, put paper bags over the wines and mixed them up so no one knew which one was which. Side note, The Sunday Sparkle is excited to announce that we will be hosting another one of these blind wine tasting parties in the near future, so there will be lots of party ideas and inspiration to come soon!

With a range of three wines so different in price, most people found it fairly easy to distinguish which was which. That is not to say that the more expensive a bottle of wine is, the better it will be, but in this situation, it just happened to be the case! I think it was because the bottle less than $10 was a two-buck chuck from Trader Joe’s, which most people are familiar with, whether they want to admit it or not! For the other two wines, I went shopping at The Winehound, a cute little wine shop in Santa Barbara that also hosts wine tasting nights around town a few times a month. Truth be told, I don’t even remember what the $25 bottle was, but maybe it’s because the Black Bart Syrah stood out so much! It was just so silky and smooth, starting out a little cinnamony and spicy, then finishing with notes of dark fruits.  The grapes for this wine come from Stagecoach Vineyard in Napa Valley, which is known for their intensely colored Syrah grapes. It makes sense because this wine was so bold and rich in color. According to a review in July 2008, the Black Bart Syrah should evolve for about five years for peak enjoyment, and by my calculations, that’s coming up soon. I recommend that everyone buy a bottle right this minute and save it for next year, when it should be at its best. Check out WineFolder because now you can actually find it on sale! With that said, time to get on the road to Malibu, and unfortunately I don’t have a bottle of the Black Bart Syrah to take with me, so I’ll probably be returning home tonight. Happy Wine Wednesday from The Sunday Sparkle!

Cupcake and Cocktail | Strawberry Champagne

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Strawberries and champagne. It’s maybe one of the simplest pairings to arrange, yet there’s something so luxurious about the combination. Pop open a bottle of bubbly, throw some strawberries into the mix, and it turns any night into a celebration! Seriously, call me a cheap date, but I can’t think of any special occasion that wouldn’t be absolutely perfect with simply a bottle of champagne and a few strawberries. Ok, and maybe a cupcake too. That’s why on the day my friend Erica officially completed her Ph.D, we celebrated with a glass of bubbly and a strawberry champagne cupcake. So easy and so decadent!

I love, love, LOVE decorating cupcakes with rainbow nonpareils. The tiny nonpareils are just so sweet and pretty, as opposed to the rainbow sprinkles that you can get at any local frozen yogurt shop. Don’t get me wrong, I love those too, but for a celebratory, special occasion cupcake, you gotta go with the rainbow nonpareils. For a fancy touch, try taking your champagne flute, dipping it in a little bit of honey, and decorating the top of the glass with some of these delightful sugary accents. Just a disclaimer, you should have your camera on hand, because this cupcake and cocktail combination will be so pretty, you’ll want to take lots and lots of photos. Cheers!

 

Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup pureed strawberries
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup extra dry champagne
  • 2 tsp strawberry extract
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 large eggs
How: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, mix together champagne, strawberry extract, and strawberry puree; set aside. In an electric mixer cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Slowly add eggs until just blended. Slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until blended. Add the champagne mixture until combined. Slowly add remaining flour mixture. Spoon into cupcake pan and bake for 18 minutes.
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup diced strawberries
  • 1 stick butter
  • 4 oz cream cheese
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp strawberry extract
How: In an electric mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese. Add the diced strawberries and strawberry extract until combined. Slowly add powdered sugar and beat until fluffy. Frost cupcakes and sprinkle with rainbow nonpareils.

Wine Wednesday | Fattoi Brunello di Montalcino 2006

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Italian wines. I can’t say I’m a fountain of knowledge on the subject, having taken my only trip to Italy with my family when I was 17 years old. I supposed I could reference my rough Italian wine education from my brief employment at The Olive Garden, but wait, I was a waitress there when I was 19-20, so I never actually had the opportunity to try the wine myself. Yeah, I guess you could say I’m kind of an expert when it comes Italian wines. Not. However, I’ve tried a lot of Italian varietals used from grapes grown here in California over the years; Oreana Winery makes an excellent Tuscan-style blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon, known as “The Tilly”. But in terms of wines straight from Italy, I usually pass that section in the wine store in favor of the California wines, an area I’m more familiar with. So it wasn’t until this past weekend when my parents were visiting from New York, that the subject of Italian wines came up. Over drinks and tapas at Milk and Honey, with my friend Erica and my boyfriend Brian, my dad declared, “I’m not really a fan of Italian wines”. Brian, who had just spent some time in Italy a few months prior, disagreed, insisting that my dad try one of the bottles he had shipped back from Italy. Enter the Fattoi Brunello Di Montalcino, a powerful, rich red Italian wine with notes of dark fruit and exotic spices.

Brian brought this wine to dinner at Trattoria Vittoria the next night, a restaurant I chose because of its simply prepared, delicious Italian fare. Everything I’ve ever ordered at Trattoria Vittoria has been fresh and unassuming, not overdone with massive amounts of garlic and cream sauce, which I suppose I am still a little bit fearful of after working at The Olive Garden for as long as I did. With that said, I had a feeling a meal here would be the perfect complement for tasting a new Italian wine. I have to say, I never fail to have the best time at Trattoria Vittoria, it’s just so cozy and cute inside! With a lively atmosphere and warm hostesses and servers, you can’t help but feel like you’re dining in some “off the beaten path” hidden gem in Italy. This restaurant is quickly becoming one of my favorites in Santa Barbara.

After opening the bottle and having our first taste, my mom announced that she could just drink this wine on its own! It would be easy to do, since after a few sips I kept finding something different about this wine. It’s very complex; you won’t be bored by this bottle, it’s truly not your average Italian wine you find at the shelf at Ralph’s. But, I do think that almost any wine can be enhanced by the right food pairing. We started off with the Speck e Formaggi Misti, which is wood-smoked prosciutto served with imported Italian cheeses. So amazing with this wine! There was something about the saltiness of the prosciutto that really brought out the flavors of the wine, oh I could have it every night! My family is really big into creating “cheese plates” as hors d’ourves with wine before dinner, and if I could ship a bottle of this back from Italy for every family occasion I’d be a happy girl. Moving on, for our entrée I took my friend Erica’s suggestion of the Ravioli di Came con Salsa Aurora, which translates to ravioli stuffed with prime rib meat in a pink cream and tomato sauce. In other words, prime rib ravioli. Ridiculous, in the best way. I’m not a huge red meat-eater, but I’m telling you I would order this dish every day of the week, except for the fact that there are so many other amazing menu items to try.

At the end of the meal, Brian asked my dad if he had changed his mind on Italian wines, although I think it was pretty obvious that he had. The only problem was that there wasn’t enough wine for our leftovers the next day! Who knew that my parents had to fly from New York to California for a truly Italian experience? I highly recommend shipping this bottle from Italy, taking it to Trattoria Vittoria, and ordering the prime rib ravioli. You won’t be disappointed!

Wine Wednesday | Cupcake Vineyards Prosecco

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Happy Wine Wednesday! Or in this case, happy Prosecco Wednesday! Cupcake Vineyards was generous enough to send us Sunday Sparkle girls a bottle of their NEW release, Cupcake Prosecco. Let me tell you, I am a fan of all things sparkly, and that includes wine! Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m the girl who will order a mimosa at any time of day, even though they’re typically reserved for brunch and Sundays. So when Stacey and I received this bottle, I couldn’t wait to try it out. Last Friday, we found the perfect excuse; I drove down to Ventura for a crafty/girly/DIY brainstorm sleepover at Stacey and Rick’s adorable apartment. Rick was the designated Prosecco popper, and he opened this bottle while Stacey and I poured over fabric bows, glitzy shoe clips, and tulle flowers. Ok, so a Friday night full of glitter, frills, and discussing our favorite new finds on Pinterest and Etsy may not seem like the craziest way to start off the weekend, but add a glass of bubbly and it becomes a special occasion! I know I’ve said this before, but I still can’t get over the cuteness of the Cupcake Vineyards label, and simply the fact that the winery is called Cupcake Vineyards. I mean really, you had me at cupcake.

Tasting notes were included with our bottle, and I noticed that this wine was made with 100% Glera grapes, the offical grapes of Prosecco. I’d never heard of Glera grapes before, but upon researching a little further, I found that they are Italian white grapes that actually used to be called Prosecco grapes. They were renamed in 2009 when the Prosecco region was promoted to the highest Italian status level in terms of producing wine, and there was a need to distinguish the grape from the region. In my opinion, Glera or Prosecco, call it what you want, this sparkling wine is delightful. Described in the tasting notes as “light and refreshing with a nose that shows hints of white peach, grapefruit, and honey-dew melon”, Cupcake Vineyards suggests that you pair a glass of this with gorgonzola crostini and melon wrapped in prosciutto. This got me thinking, because Stacey and I are planning a girls’ sparkling wine brunch in early April, and I’ve been searching for the right bubbly. A few bottles of this Prosecco with some light bites and mini lemon cream cupcakes would be perfect.  Cupcake Vineyards, you never fail to make me happy!