I had to think a little about this recipe. It's September, which means it's fall...and the weather has been perfectly fall for the past couple of weeks. So I wanted a fall flavor, but didn't want to conflict with October's recipe (that Amber & I will get to back together!!) or with November's recipe which will undoubtedly include pumpkin. So I opted for this delightful almond/maple combo! I found this recipe at the Vanilla & Velvet blog
I'm not always the biggest fan of nuts. I rarely choose a cookie or brownie or piece of banana bread with walnuts when I can have it plain. But I do really like almonds because they are subtle. I put them in my homemade granola and they are just so tasty when covered in brown sugar & honey and on the crunchy side.
Vanilla Almond Cupcake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Vanilla Almond Cake
(Makes 12)
Cupcake Ingredients:
1 cup cake flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1. Make the almond meal. I did it by grinding almonds in my coffee grinder. It made it finer than my food processor could, but not so fine that it was flour-like.
2. Mix together flour, almond meal, baking powder and salt.
3. Beat in room temperature butter (this seems a little weird since you normal cream the butter with sugar, but it worked nicely!)
4. Add sugar and mix thoroughly.
5. Add eggs one at a time, beating between each egg. Stir in vanilla and milk until just mixed.
6. FIll each cupcake liner a little over half full.
7. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until you can stick a toothpick into the cupcake and it comes out almost clean. This was also a little weird, as cupcakes normally bake at 350 for 20 minutes. I will bake them a minute or two less next time.
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
Beat the cream cheese and butter until blended, then begin to add powdered sugar. Beat until cream, then add the maple syrup and beat until well combined. I frosted my using a piping bag with a large tip.
Candied Almonds
1/2 cup white sugar
2 Tbls butter
2 cups sliced almonds
1 tsp vanilla
Add white sugar, butter & almonds to a med heat skillet and stir slowly and consistently until the sugar melts and the almonds turn golden brown. Keep stirring so the mixture doesn't stick to the pan. Remove from heat and add vanilla. It will sizzle and pop. Pour onto wax paper to harden. Spread as thin or as chunky as you like.
Garnish cupcake with as much as desired. YUMMY!!!
Makes 12 regular cupcakes
We're struggling with our names...stay tuned!
