Sangria Cupcakes with Peach Glaze

Jackie's baking with booze! What is this world coming to?!

Crazy, I know, but here they are. My friend Molly suggested I bake some form of alcohol cupcakes like Cupcake Wars was doing, and it started me thinking, how awesome would sangria cupcakes be?! A little sangria, a bunch of fruit, sounds good to me!

 I'm usually not a huge fan of adding food coloring...ok, that's a lie, I've been hanging out at my super all-natural, locally grown everything, gluten-free, dye-free custard and sorbet shop too much! I love food coloring! And as you can see, the batter was super gross looking at first. I mean, they may be sangria cupcakes, but less than a cup of sangria doesn't do much for the color, it looked like spice cake or something! Definitely NOT pretty enough for me!


I liked the idea of using peach in my cupcakes, mostly because the ones at the grocery store smelled amazing, but I knew they would be lost in all the citrus. My two part solution worked like a charm: I used just the peach pulp in the cupcakes, so every once in a while you get a little blob of peachy yumminess, (kept the batter from getting runny too! Just watch out for the peach getting caught on the egg beaters) and two, the peach glaze! I'm not too crazy about powdered sugar frosting in general, it's just too sweet, but the cupcakes themselves didn't have very much sugar, so they balanced each other out nicely, and the glaze gave them a ton of peachy flavor.

These guys are super tasty, just in case there was any doubt. The flavors of the sangria, the citrus, and the peach with that little bit of cinnamon compliment each other so well. We happened to have two bottles of sangria in the house, but any red wine should work too, the fruitier the better. In the end, the cupcakes were velvety smooth, and just plain good. Now what to do with the rest of the sangria...

Sangria Cupcakes with Peach Glaze

2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
3/4 cup sangria or red wine
1 tbs lemon zest
2 tbs lemon juice
1/2 tbs orange zest
2 tbs orange juice
1 peach
Red food coloring (optional)
1 cup powdered sugar

In a bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and cinnamon. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter 30 seconds. Add sugar and vanilla, beat well. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Slowly alternate adding dry ingredients and sangria. Beat in citrus juice and zest. Chop peach into small sections, and separate out juice and pulp with a strainer. Add 2 tbs pulp, reserve juice for later. Add food coloring if desired. Mix well.
Pour batter into lined cupcake pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.
For glaze, mix together powdered sugar and 3 tbs peach juice. Mix well.