Almond Cupcakes with Sour Cream and Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Almond sour cream cupcakes

Ingredients

makes approx 6

1 Cup cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter, room temp

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp almond extract*

1/3 cup sour cream

Almond paste

*you can use vanilla extract instead for a plain vanilla cupcake

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a small bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. In larger bowl, beat butter and sugar until light.

Add egg and almond extract and beat until creamy.

Gradually beat in half the flour, then half the sour cream, then repeat until all ingredients are added. Mix well.

Line cupcake tin with liners and fill until about 2/3 full. Roll a small amount of almond paste into a ball and push gently into the batter in one of the cups. Repeat for all of the cups.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the tops of the cupcakes are golden brown and springy to the touch. Remove and let cool. Yum!

Chocolate Almond Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8 oz package non-fat cream cheese

1/4 cup butter

3 cups confectioner's sugar

1 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)

Blend the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add 3 cups of sugar one at a time until completely blended. Add vanilla and almond extracts. Add cocoa power, mix throughly. Frost liberally :)

Thoughts: SoooooOooo much more moist than the vanilla cupcakes I made on Friday! I think the sour cream really makes a different. I also used a regular aluminum pan and the cupcakes didn't burn at all. I've read that non-stick pans conduct heat more readily than regular pans, which is probably why they burn things so badly! The almond paste in the middle is a nice touch, but a little chewy. Maybe its the brand of paste I used, but I might go without it next time. I'm undecided on the frosting. When I licked the spoon I was super disappointed... the combination of the cream cheese, cocoa and almond extract was too much for me. However, on the cupcake it was actually really delicious! Still, next time I would eliminate either the cocoa or almond to make the frosting a little more traditional. So, final verdict: very good! What I would do next time: eliminate the almond paste in the middle, and make the frosting more simple by eliminating a flavor. Happy baking!

Duff Goldman's Vanilla Cupcakes With Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

In all of my baking I have yet to find a decent vanilla cake-from-scratch recipe. Duff is the guy from Ace of Cakes so I figured this recipe would be a good one. I stumbled across it while reading another baker's blog, I Heart Cuppycakes. I ended up halving the recipe but here are the ingredients that make the full cake.

Makes two 9-inch pan cakes or approx. 36 cupcakes

3-1/2 cups AP flour
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, unsalted
2 cups sugar
4 tsp vanilla extract
6 eggs
3 tbsp canola oil
2/3 cup buttermilk

INSTRUCTIONS

Pre-heat oven to 350 ° F

Begin by creaming the butter in with the sugar until light, mixing with a hand held beater or stand mixer.

Once the butter is creamy, add the vanilla. Then add in the eggs one at a time while beating. The batter will begin to look as if it is curdled, but this is OK! Next add your butter milk and oil and mix thoroughly.

In a separate bowl, sift together the baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour to mix. Add the flour slowly to the wet ingredients, blending thoroughly as you go.

Line the cupcake tins with liners and fill about 2/3 full with batter. Bake about 17-20 minutes, depending on your oven, or until a toothpick stuck in the middle of the cupcake comes out clean. Let cool.

VANILLA BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Soooo bad, yet SO GOOD!

Ingredients

4 sticks of Butter (2 cups)

6 cups of sifted confectioner's sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

Pinch of salt

Cream the butter (this may take a few minutes!). Then add the confectioner's sugar 1/2 cup at a time, mix generously in between additions.

After all the sugar is added , add the vanilla and salt and mix. You're done!

I halved this recipe as well, almost didnt have enough for all of my cupcakes! Next time I will have to plan to make a little bit more!

Thoughts: The frosting was unreal!!! I wish I had planned to make more, but oh well! I thought the cake was going to be amazing, and it definitely wasn't bad, but I was a little let down. It wasn't as moist as I had hope, and I baked it for less than the allotted time (only 16 minutes!). Maybe it was my non-stick pan (I think they tend to burn things easily) or the scaling down of the recipes... Regardless, my roommate said they were delicious!

Bake My Day-Welcome!

Welcome to my very first blog! For the past few months, baking has been a weekend passion of mine... to me nothing is more comforting then mixing a bowl of cake batter or pulling a sheet of chocolate chip cookies out of the oven. This blog will serve as a documentation of all my baking adventures, and hopefully provide anyone reading (Hi, Mom) with the most delicious recipes out there! First recipe to come this weekend... enjoy!!!!