What to Do with Leftover Filling

Sometimes, you’ll have leftover filling from cookies or cakes. What should you do with your filling? In some cases – like that of lemon curd or dulce de leche – you can just eat it with a spoon. But what if your filling needs to be baked, or would be better put to use in another treat? As a super-thrifty baker, I always advocate repurposing your filling so you don’t waste ingredients or money, and I found one very simple way to do so.

Yesterday I made a big batch of pecan rugelach and had about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of pecan filling left over (I didn’t measure it exactly). I decided to bake it into what I call crescent cupcakes, which are based on the Easy King Cake Cupcakes I made for Mardi Gras and are very easy to assemble. You may need more tubes of crescent rolls depending on how much filling you have left, but you can always bake any unused rolls as you would normally and serve them with dinner.

Ingredients

1 regular-sized tube Pillsbury^TM crescent rolls
Leftover filling (I had about 1/3 to 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Dash of cinnamon
1 teaspoon water

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 4 cupcake liners into a cupcake pan.

Unroll the tube of crescent rolls and divide the roll into four rectangles. Press the perforated edges together to seal.

Divide your filling evenly between all four rectangles, leaving a border around the edges.Fold the top of the rectangle down toward the middle, then fold the bottom of the rectangle toward the middle, letting the dough overlap. Fold the right side in toward the middle, then the left side.

Place rolls spiral-side up in cupcake wells and bake for 18-22 minutes, until golden brown.

Remove from cupcake tin and cool completely before glazing.

To make glaze, combine powdered sugar and cinnamon (or whatever spice you like) in a small bowl. Add water 1/4 teaspoon at a time to reach a thick glazing consistency; you don’t want the glaze to drip down the sides. Glaze each treat and allow glaze to set before serving, or serve warm if you prefer.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days; after that, they get stale.

Makes 4.

King Cake Cupcakes (Easy Version)

Every year before Mardi Gras, I think: this year, I’ll make a king cake. If you’re not familiar with the king cake, it’s a traditional treat associated with Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, the day before the somber, reflective season of Lent begins. King cake involves brioche and a filling of some kind, and because I do so little work with yeast, I always decide to forego the king cake for another year.

This year, I went an easy, semi-homemade route for these king cake cupcakes. They’re adapted from a recipe that I found at Crave. Indulge. Satisfy., and I would definitely do a few things differently next time, like waiting for them to cool completely before glazing them with icing, and greasing my cupcake tins instead of using paper liners (because warm cupcakes + glaze icing + paper liners = a gooey mess). The recipe below is written how I’d recommend you bake it, based on my trials last night. To me, they taste like a delicious Pillsbury treat (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but if you’re going for a more traditional king cake flavor, you’ll want to bake the real thing.

Ingredients

6 tubes Pillsbury^TM crescent rolls
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk
Purple, yellow, and green sugar sprinkles

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 12-count cupcake tins.

In a medium bowl, stir together brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans; set aside.

Unroll one tube of crescent rolls at a time and divide the rolls into four rectangles. Press the perforated edges together to seal.

Place 2 tablespoons of filling down the center of each rectangle, leaving a border around the edges. Fold the top of the rectangle down toward the middle, then fold the bottom of the rectangle toward the middle, letting the dough overlap. Fold the right side in toward the middle, then the left side.

Place rolls spiral-side up in cupcake wells and bake for 18-22 minutes, until golden brown.

Remove from oven and allow to cool in pans, then remove to wire racks.

Once cupcakes are cool, make glaze; combine powdered sugar and milk in a medium bowl and mix until completely smooth.

Working with about 3 cupcakes at a time, pour glaze over cupcakes and sprinkle with purple, yellow, and green sugar. If you try to glaze all of the cupcakes at once, the glaze will harden before you can get the sprinkles on. Continue glazing and sprinkling until all of your cupcakes are done.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. Makes 24.

Chesapeake Bay Cake

Mike turned 40 yesterday, and I threw him a Maryland-themed birthday party, complete with this Chesapeake Bay-inspired cake. Funny difference between Marylanders and Pennsylvanians: most Marylanders have an abundant amount of state pride, while Pennsylvanians seem to be prouder of their local connections. I, for example, am a Pittsburgher first and a Pennsylvanian second. Not so in the Old Line State, where folks fly the Maryland flag outside their homes right alongside the American flag. Mike would probably do that here if I’d let him (which I won’t).

I’m not much of a decorator, so I went with a simple design for this cake. The crab outline came from my crab cookie cutter, and I used a leaf tip to pipe seaweed, a plain tip to pipe sand, then added some flower-shaped sprinkles for shells, rocks, and starfish (as seen in the photo below – I decided after I took the photo above that it needed just a few more fun details). This cake was a big hit at his party last night, along with my steamed crab cookies.

Ingredients

Dark Chocolate Cake

3 cups flour
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups water

Vanilla Almond Buttercream

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (2 1/2 sticks), at room temperature
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon milk
Blue, green, and brown food coloring
Miniature chocolate chips for crab eyes
Flower-shaped sprinkles for shells, rocks, and starfish

Preparation

For the cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 8-inch round cake pans with baking spray. Line the bottom of each pan with a circle of parchment, and spray a second time.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Make three wells; place vinegar in one, vanilla in the second, and vegetable oil in the third. Add water and stir very well to combine; the batter will bubble up just slightly as the ingredients come together. Your batter will be fairly thin, but should be mostly lump-free.

Divide batter evenly between the pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Be careful not to over-bake; the sides of these cakes set up pretty quickly and can burn if you let them go too long.

Remove cakes from oven and carefully run a knife around each edge to loosen them from their pans if they’ve stuck at all. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes in the pans, then carefully flip out onto wire racks (removing the parchment for each cake bottom) to cool completely.

For the frosting

Place butter in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1-2 minutes. Add powdered sugar all at once and beat on low until the sugar is completely incorporated into the butter (this will take several minutes).

Scrape down the bowl, then add vanilla, almond extract, and milk and beat for 3 minutes on medium speed, scraping the sides of the bowl a few times.

To decorate:

Reserve about 1 1/2 cups frosting in a small bowl, then tint the remaining frosting light blue.

Remove about 1/4 cup of light blue frosting and tint dark blue for the crab.

Divide the remaining frosting in half and tint one portion green and the other portion a light sand color.

Flip one cake upside-down onto your cake plate; spread a medium-thin layer of frosting on top. Carefully place your second cake on top of the first layer and frost the top, then the sides.

Using a crab cookie cutter, make an indentation in the top of the cake so you have an outline; remove the cutter.

Fit a small piping bag with a small plain tip and fill with dark blue frosting, then pipe the outline of the crab. Switch to a larger tip to fill in the crab body, then use a small offset spatula to smooth out your piping. Add miniature chocolate chip eyes.

Fit a medium piping bag with a leaf tip and fill with green frosting. Pipe seaweed up from the bottom of your cake.

Fit a medium piping bag with a large plain tip and fill with sand-colored frosting. Pipe sand along the base of the cake, covering the bottoms of your seaweed.

Add flower sprinkles for shells, rocks, and starfish; I used white, blue, and orange sprinkles.

Store on a domed cake stand for up to 3 days.

Here’s a photo of the cake with the flower sprinkle additions – I’m very glad I added them, as the cake looked a bit too plain otherwise.

Almond Cake for Date Night – Serves Two

Mike and I will celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary this year. We married one week after graduating college – because, why wait? – and are now those boring married people whose “date night” means a Saturday night catching up on the TV shows we’ve recorded during the week.

For last night’s date night, I whipped up this adorable little almond cake. It’s perfect for two, yielding two slices of cake for each of us. The icing is just an almond glaze, topped with sugar-toasted almonds, which are much easier to make then they may sound. Next time, I may slice the cake in half and add some pastry cream or raspberry filling between the layers.

Ingredients

For the cake

1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
dash of salt
4 tablespoons butter, softened
6 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon almond extract
3 tablespoons milk

For the toasted almonds

6 tablespoons sliced almonds
1 tablespoon plus one teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon water

For the almond glaze

About 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon water

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 6-inch round cake pan with baking spray, line it with a parchment circle, and spray the parchment.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until very well-blended. Add egg, vanilla, and almond extract and beat until combined.

Add flour and milk alternatively in two batches, beginning and ending with the flour and beating until completely combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 18-22 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow cake to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then carefully turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

While your cake cools, prepare your toasted almonds. Place almonds in a small bowl and add sugar and water, mixing well to coat. Place in a saute pan over medium heat and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5-7 minutes until almonds start to turn a light golden brown. Almonds will start out looking wet and will appear dry when they are almost done. Remove from heat and pour onto a plate to cool completely before using.

Once your cake and almonds are cool, make your almond glaze. Place powdered sugar in a small bowl and add almond extract and water, stirring until smooth. You want a thick glaze consistency, so you may need to add a bit more powdered sugar to thicken it. Pour glaze over cake and top with toasted almonds.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Makes 4 servings.

Heart Month Cupcakes

It’s American Heart Month! As some of you know, I manage heart and vascular marketing for a medical center in Pittsburgh, and Heart Month is a big deal. We have events all throughout February that encourage people to get heart screenings so they can learn about heart disease risks. My cube is decked out with heart decorations, and I’m featuring daily heart tips on my dry erase board all month long.

Okay, so maybe it’s a little strange that the heart marketing gal is also the office baker. While cupcakes could never be construed as heart-healthy, being baked with butter, sugar, and eggs, they do make people happy. And happiness is an important part of heart health, so…you be the judge. These cupcakes make a large batch of 30, so they’d also be great for a Valentine’s Day party.

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 2/3 tablespoons butter, slightly softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk

For the frosting

1 cup butter, at room temperature
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
3/4 tablespoon almond extract
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
Wilton Fill Your Heart sprinkles*

*I found these sprinkles at Joann; craft stores are always a great source of holiday-themed baking supplies.

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line three cupcake tins with paper liners; if you don’t have three, just let one of your tins cool down after baking one of your batches before you do your last batch.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter on medium speed for one minute. Add sugar and vanilla and beat until well combined.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each.

Add flour mixture and milk alternatively, beating until combined.

Using a two-inch cookie scoop, scoop batter into prepared muffin cups, filling about half-full.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack before frosting.

To make the frosting, place butter in a mixing bowl and beat for a few minutes using the paddle attachment.

Add 3 cups powdered sugar. With your mixer on low, beat until all of the sugar is incorporated into the butter. This will take a few minutes, and I find that placing a kitchen towel over the mixer during this stage prevents a powdered sugar blizzard.

Once all of the sugar is incorporated, scrape down your bowl and beat on medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes.

Add vanilla extract, almond extract, and 1 tablespoon milk and beat on medium for another 2 minutes.

Scrape down your bowl, then add the remaining half-cup of powdered sugar and half-tablespoon milk, beating for another 1-2 minutes until completely combined.

Fit a 14-inch piping bag with a Wilton M1 tip and pipe swirls of frosting onto each cupake; you’ll have enough for all 30 cupcakes as long as you don’t go too overboard with your portions.

Sprinkle each cupcake with Wilton Fill Your Heart sprinkles (or other heart-shaped sprinkles). Note: I don’t recommend dipping the cupcakes in the sprinkles, as this will result it sprinkle overload. Because these sprinkles are so large, it’s best to literally sprinkle them onto each cupcake.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days.

Makes 30.

Small Batch Cupcakes – Makes 6

Sometimes you just want a small batch of cupcakes. Maybe you’re having a few friends over for dinner, or making a special meal for yourself and your partner. Even a single 8-inch round layer cake can be too much, but cutting recipes down further – especially when eggs are involved – can be a challenge.

This recipe is adapted from one I found at The Baking Fairy, which was designed for wedding cake tastings. Once you have your batter base, you could very easily flavor it many different ways, using vanilla, almond, citrus, and so forth. I chose fiori di sicilia, a delightful vanilla/citrus extract often used in Italian baked goods like panettone, and paired it with a vanilla almond buttercream. The end result is absolutely delicious, sort of like a creamsicle but with more depth of flavor.

Note: the original recipe was said to yield 4 cupcakes, but mine yielded 6.

Small Batch Cupcakes

Ingredients

1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
dash of salt
4 tablespoons butter, softened
6 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 drops fiori di sicilia*
3 tablespoons milk

*Yes, I use a medicine dropper for this, because it’s a very powerful flavor. If you don’t have a dropper and want to use fiori di sicilia, use about 1/8 teaspoon.

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake tin with 6 paper liners.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until very well-blended. Add egg, vanilla, and fiori di sicilia and beat until combined.

Add flour and milk alternatively in two batches, beginning and ending with the flour and beating until completely combined.

Using a 2-inch cookie scoop, drop scoops of batter into each cupcake well.

Bake for 18-22 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and immediately place cupcakes on a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Small Batch Buttercream

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup plus 6 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 teaspoons milk

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, beat butter on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.

Add powdered sugar all at once, then beat on low speed until all of the sugar is incorporated into the butter; this will take a few minutes, and you’ll need to scrape the bowl a few times to get all of the sugar to incorporate properly, since you’re working with such a small batch. Once sugar is incorporated, beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes.

Add vanilla extract, almond extract, and milk, then beat for another 1-2 minutes.

Frost cupcakes using a small offset spatula; you should have just enough for a generous portion on each, with a little bit left over.

Store cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Gingerbread Cake with Molasses Cream Cheese Frosting

This Christmas, I wanted to make something different for dessert, and I found this amazing recipe on Pinterest. Sometimes you never know with Pinterest recipes – but this one is top-notch.

Adapted from a recipe at Great Grub, Delicious Treats (which was adapted from a recipe from Better Homes & Gardens), this cake and frosting are absolutely delicious. I added allspice and cloves to my batter in addition to the ginger and cinnamon, and I’m very glad I did. My mom and I couldn’t decide whether we liked the cake or the frosting best, and Mike is yet to weigh in. Either way, this cake was a huge hit after our Christmas dinner yesterday.

I cut the original recipe in half for a single layer for just the three of us, and I cut the frosting recipe in half as well, but it was still far too much. The measurements below are adapted further for what I believe would be an appropriate amount of frosting for a single layer 9-inch cake; I have a ton left over in my fridge, which will probably go in cupcakes this week.

Gingerbread Cake

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
8 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
6 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
1/2 cup water

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-inch round cake pan and line with a circle of parchment; lightly grease the parchment.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside.

In a mixing bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and brown sugar until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl well. Add molasses and egg and beat well to combine.

Add flour mixture and water alternatively in three batches, starting and ending with the flour and mixing to combine between each.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 28-32 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Be careful not to over-bake this cake, as the sides can easily burn.

Cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Molasses Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon molasses
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar

Preparation

In a mixing bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and cream cheese until combined, about 2-3 minutes.

Add molasses and vanilla, beating well to combine. Scrape down your bowl well.

Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating to completely combine; continue to beat for 1-2 minutes, scraping the bowl well, to reach an easily spreadable consistency.

Frost top and sides of cake.

Store in the refrigerator, but let the cake sit at room temperature for about 30-45 minutes before serving.

Black Forest Cupcakes

My cube mates and I all have nutcrackers on our desks for the holidays. Because we’re writers, we’ve decided that these nutcrackers need personalities and back stories. My nutcracker, Karl Henrik, hails from a tiny hamlet deep in the Black Forest…which made me really want to make Black Forest cupcakes.

This treat is much more fun to say in German: Schwartzwalder kirschtorte. Technically, this recipe is a very American adaptation on the German classic; it uses a dark chocolate cupcake recipe I’ve baked many times before, cherry pie filling (because one cannot find fresh tart cherries in Pittsburgh in December), and a kirsch-flavored whipped cream frosting. Mike proclaimed this cupcake delicious, whether it’s true to the original recipe or not. Someday, I’ll make a real Black Forest cake, but for now these treats will do!

Ingredients

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup water
Cherry pie filling*

*You’ll need half of a 21-ounce can; you can reserve the other half, as well as your cupcake cores, for a cherry chocolate trifle later on.

Kirsch Whipped Cream Frosting

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 tablespoon kirsch (cherry brandy)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Mix until well-blended, then make three wells for the wet ingredients.

Place vinegar, vanilla, and vegetable oil into the wells; add water and mix until the batter is smooth. The mixture will bubble up slightly when you add the water, so just keep mixing until you get a smooth consistency in the batter, which will be fairly thin.

Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop batter into cupcake wells, filling no more than 3/4 full.

Bake for 13-16 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Immediately remove cupcakes to a wire rack to cool.

Once cupcakes are completely cool, use a small knife to cut into the center of each cupcake at a 45-degree angle, about 1/8 inch from the edge, all the way around. Remove the core and reserve for another use (like a cherry-chocolate trifle, for example).

Spoon cherry pie filling into each center, being careful not to over-fill (which I definitely did). You should be able to fit about two cherries in each.

For the frosting: place heavy cream in a mixing bowl and, using your whisk attachment, beat on medium-high speed for 2 minutes, until soft peaks form. Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and kirsch, beating on high speed for another 2-3 minutes, until stiff peaks form.

Fit a piping bag with a large plain tip and pipe frosting onto cupcakes; gently smooth with an offset spatula to cover most of the top of the cupcake.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Old-Fashioned Vanilla Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

This recipe is slightly adapted from Trisha Yearwood’s on the Food Network site. While it yields a delicious treat, I must say that the cupcake is much sturdier than I expected it to be. It’s almost like a pound cake cupcake, so if I ever make these again, I’ll probably pair them with a different frosting.

The frosting, however, is absolutely delicious. I tweaked mine to add more milk and vanilla for a fluffier, creamier texture than the original. I also want to note that the original said it yielded 12 cupcakes, but it really makes 24, so you’ll have plenty to share.

Old Fashioned Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients

3 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.

Add flour mixture and milk in alternatively in three batches, beginning and ending with the flour. Add vanilla and beat until combined.

Using a 2-inch cookie scoop, drop scoops of batter in cupcake wells, filling about 3/4 full.

Bake for 16-20 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and place cupcakes on a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Peanut Butter Frosting

Ingredients

8 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, beat butter and peanut butter on medium speed for about 3 minutes.

Add 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, vanilla, and 1/4 cup milk; beat on medium speed until well-combined, about 3-4 minutes.

Add remaining powdered sugar and beat for another 1-2 minutes, then slowly add remaining milk, about 1 tablespoon at a time, until the frosting is a smooth, spreadable consistency.

Using a 1-inch cookie scoop, drop scoops of frosting onto cupcakes; spread with an offset spatula.

Store cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Toasted Almond Cupcakes

In the spirit of Pittsburgh’s famous burnt almond torte, I give you these toasted almond cupcakes. I have to admit: I like toasted, not burnt, almonds better, but you can certainly cook yours for longer if you prefer the burnt kind.

The next time I make these cupcakes, I’ll fill them with some almond pastry cream, but they’re absolutely delicious no matter what. While they may look fancy, they’re actually very easy to prepare; just put a simple white almond cupcake together with some almond buttercream, then add your toasted almonds on top. I recommend making your cupcakes first, then toasting your almonds, then making your frosting so the cupcakes and almonds are both cool enough to use.

Makes 16 cupcakes.

White Almond Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup milk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two cupcake tins with paper liners.

In a small bowl, combine flour and baking powder; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream together sugar, shortening, and salt until fluffy.

Add egg, vanilla, and almond; beat until combined.

Add flour mixture and milk in alternating batches, starting and ending with the flour and beating until just combined.

Using a 2-inch cookie scoop, drop scoops of batter into each cupcake well, filling about half full.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and immediately place cupcakes on wire racks to cool before frosting.

Toasted Almonds

Ingredients

3/4 cup sliced almonds
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon water

Preparation

In a medium bowl, combine almonds, sugar, and water; stir to combine.

Place mixture in a saute pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring regularly, for about 5-7 minutes until almonds turn a light golden brown. Almonds will start out looking wet and will appear dry when they are almost done.

Remove from heat and pour onto a platter to cool completely before using.

Fluffy Almond Buttercream

Ingredients

10 tablespoons butter, softened
2 1/2 to 3 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons almond extract
1 tablespoon heavy cream

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, beat butter for about 1 minute.

Add powdered sugar and beat on low speed until all of the sugar is fully incorporated into the butter; this will take a few minutes.

Add vanilla extract and almond extract, beating well to combine.

Add heavy cream and beat for about 2 minutes until fluffy.

To frost and decorate the cupcakes: fit a 14-inch pastry bag with a Wilton 1M tip and pipe generous swirls of frosting onto each cupcake. Sprinkle toasted almonds onto each cupcake, gently pressing them into the frosting so they stick.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.

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