I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of just drinking rosé wine. But reduced down and put into cupcake form? Sign me up! These rosé cupcakes are topped with dried rose petals and just scream elegance. They are the perfect Valentine's Day dessert and surprisingly easy to make!
You might also like these rosé gummies, these champagne cupcakes, or the rest of our fun Valentine's Day desserts!
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Ingredient Notes
You just need a few simple ingredients to make these pink rosé cupcakes!
- Cake flour - I always use cake flour in my cupcakes because it makes them super soft and tender, but all purpose flour also works great!
- Rosé wine - Just use your favorite rosé wine to make these cupcakes! I recommend using a sweet, fruit forward rosé wine for the best flavor!
- Pink luster powder - This is optional, but I love this pink luster powder because it adds the most beautiful color and sparkle to the rosé wine frosting!
- Rose petals - My favorite dried rose petals are from Suncore Foods! All of their products are super high quality and have amazing color.
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
Make the Rosé Reduction
I like to make a rosé reduction for these cupcakes because the flavor is much more concentrated than regular rosé and it incorporates much better into the buttercream.
In a small saucepan, bring 1 cup rosé to a boil over medium-high heat.
Once boiling, reduce to medium heat and allow to simmer until reduced down to a little less than ½ cup, about 15 minutes.
Set aside to cool completely. You want it room temperature or cold before adding it to the buttercream. You can let it cool in the fridge or make it up to 3 days in advance.
How to Make Rosé Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.
Whisk the cake flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk the melted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and rosé reduction together until combined.
Stir in about half of the flour mixture.
Then stir in the milk and the rest of the flour mixture and mix until fully combined. The batter will be thin.
Pour about ¼ cup of batter into each cupcake liner (they should be about halfway full).
Bake at 350°F for 18-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack.
Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
Tips for the Best Baked Goods
Use room temperature ingredients! Always make sure ingredients like butter, eggs, milk, yogurt, etc. are at room temperature before baking (unless the recipe indicates otherwise)! This ensures they'll incorporate into the batter more easily and leads to overall better texture. Remove all ingredients from the fridge 30 minutes to an hour before baking for best results.
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, dense baked goods. [Measure cocoa powder the same way!]
Use an oven thermometer! Just because your oven says it's 350, doesn't mean it is! If you oven hasn't been calibrated recently, it can be as much as 30 degrees off, which will negatively affect all baked goods from cakes to macarons! An oven thermometer is the easiest/cheapest way to ensure your oven is always at the proper temperature.
Make sure you baking powder is fresh! Baking powder is important for helping baked goods rise properly, but it has a relatively short shelf life once opened, so it's one of the few items I never buy in bulk! To test if your baking powder is still fresh, add a small amount to boiling water. If it bubbles it's still good to use, but if not it's time to toss it!
Cupcake Decorating Tips
- Make sure you let the rosé cupcakes cool completely before frosting!!
- For extra rosé flavor, you can use a pastry brush to lightly brush a little bit of the rosé reduction on top of the cupcakes before frosting!
- To decorate all of my cakes and cupcakes, I use this Wilton Decorating Kit and I love it! It’s super easy to use and has a ton of tips in different sizes. For these cupcakes, I used the 1M tip.
- I also sprinkled some dried rose petals on top as a garnish.
Recipe FAQ's
No! Since the rosé is reduced down before adding to the frosting, all the alcohol cooks off.
These cupcakes will last in the fridge for up to 3 days. However, they taste best when served at room temperature! I like to let them sit at room temperature for about an hour before serving.
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
More Valentine's Day Recipes!
Recipe Card
Rosé Cupcakes
Special Equipment
Ingredients
Rosé Reduction
- 1 cup rosé wine
Cupcakes
- 1 ½ cups cake flour, substitute all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons rosé reduction
- ⅓ cup whole milk
Rosé Buttercream
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon pink luster powder, optional
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons rosé reduction
Instructions
Rosé Reduction
- In a small saucepan, bring 1 cup of rosé to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Once boiling, reduce to medium heat and allow to simmer until reduced down to a little less that ½ cup, about 15 minutes.
- Set aside to cool completely. You want it to be room temperature or cold before adding it to the buttercream. You can let it cool in the fridge or make it up to 3 days in advance.
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- Whisk the cake flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the melted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and rosé reduction together until combined.
- Stir in about half of the flour mixture. Then stir in the milk and the rest of the flour mixture and mix until fully combined. The batter will be thin.
- Pour about ¼ cup of batter into each cupcake liner (they should be about halfway full).
- Bake at 350°F for 18-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack.
- Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
Rosé Buttercream
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the softened butter, powdered sugar, pink luster powder, and vanilla until smooth and creamy.
- Add in the rosé reduction 1 tablespoon at a time until fully combined. Beat the buttercream for 3-4 minutes on high speed until light and fluffy.
- Frost cooled cupcakes. I used a Wilton 1M tip for these photos.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Browse more Valentine's Day recipes →
Cassie says
made these for a single girl v day party and everyone was obsessed!
Monika says
Would this still taste good with RED wine? I never have rose on hand...
Kyleigh Sage says
Yes! It’ll still work, it’ll just take on the flavor of whatever wine you use! So I’d recommend a more fruity red. I also have a champagne cupcake recipe that’s similar (it’s actually much more detailed because it’s recently been updated).
http://www.barleyandsage.com/champagne-cupcakes