Aperol Spritz Cupcakes!

After the stresses of my forays into French patisserie, and with one of my best friends' birthdays coming up, I wanted to bake something a little unique... enter these Aperol Spritz Cupcakes! 

The cupcakes all boxed up!

My friend loves an Aperol Spritz, and after making a batch of Passionfruit Martini Cupcakes to celebrate another friend's engagement last year, I had the idea to try and incorporate the flavours of an Aperol Spritz, these being Aperol, Prosecco, and orange, into a fun batch of cupcakes! An Aperol Spritz typically contains soda water, but I wasn't too fussed for using soda water in these cakes as I didn't think it would bring anything to the table, and I have to say I'm very happy with the results!

My Passionfruit Martini Cupcakes 
for reference, recipe from Jane's 
Patisserie! 

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that there is a lot of booze in these cupcakes. To start with, the sponge itself contains Aperol, alongside butter, sugar, eggs, self-raising flour, and orange zest. I was worried that adding alcohol to the mixture would curdle the batter, however adding it a little at a time alongside the flour in the same way you would add eggs to creamed butter and sugar prevents the curdling. The addition of the alcohol didn't affect the texture of the final bake either! 

I'm still really conflicted about the 
way I decorated these cakes, at times 
I love it, at times I hate it...

Whilst the sponges were baking, I had the idea to prepare a syrup by dissolving sugar in warmed Aperol and Prosecco. Then, whilst the cakes were cooling, I used a skewer to poke holes in the cupcakes and drizzle the syrup over the tops for an extra kick! The recipe for the Passionfruit Martini Cupcakes simply calls for the vanilla vodka to be drizzled over the cakes, but seeing as an Aperol Spritz is a much drier drink than a Passionfruit Martini I thought the sugar syrup might offset this dryness just a little.

The biggest problem I faced with these cakes was definitely the consistency of the icing. I decided to go with an American buttercream icing, as I find this easier to use when decorating cupcakes, and I've never had problem with adding extra liquids, including alcohol, to American buttercream before. I added an extra 100ml of liquid, 50ml of Aperol and 50ml of Prosecco, as well as orange zest, to the buttercream, lending it a delicate pink colour and some extra flavour.

The definition isn't quite as bad as I 
first thought!

In comparison to the Passionfruit Martini Cupcakes, it's clear that the buttercream for these cakes has lost a lot of its definition. After adding the alcohol and whisking to try and achieve a slightly stiffer buttercream, the icing became slightly mousse-like in texture. I didn't have the time to have another go at this icing, which meant that I had to go ahead and try to decorate with the moussey icing... Later, when these cakes were finished, I stored them in the fridge before taking them to my friend's house, which actually firmed the icing up to a proper buttercream consistency. Lesson learned, chilling the buttercream beforehand would probably have massively improved the look of the piping! 

For the finishing touches, I caramalised some orange slices and used them to decorate the cakes alongside a sprig of fresh rosemary, a straw, and a mini Aperol filled pipette! Sometimes I worry that the pipettes make these cakes look a little tacky or gimmicky, and at others I like the splash of colour the Aperol adds to the cakes. Either way, these cupcakes were the perfect chance to get a little creative!

Gibby x