Picnic Series #4 — White Almond Cupcakes

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Wedding season is almost here – time for Almond Cupcakes!

The first day of May was yesterday and it reminded me of the May Day celebrations my mother used to have for her kindergartners in the early 70’s. She would string colorful ribbons down from a short pole in the playground and, weather permitting, the kids would go outside and dance barefoot around the maypole, ribbons in hand. I can still hear the laughter and the joy from those little ones. I don’t know what made them happier, the fact that they were going barefoot outside for the first time of the year or that there was going to be cupcakes afterwards!

Today I am making the most delicious cupcakes with a wedding cake worthy icing, I am cheating on the cupcakes by using a mix. But I am trying something new that I have always wanted to do. I have heard about adding in extras to the box mix to make it taste more like a scratch cake. Since all I make are scratch cakes I was very skeptical.  I must say these are pretty close to the real thing.

Almond Cupcakes Recipe

First, you will want to mix up the cupcakes. Go ahead preheat your oven to 350°. Mix your cake mix, butter and eggs until all are incorporated. Then add the milk in increments until everything is mixed together. Continue mixing for another 3 minutes.

Fill the cups 2/3 full and bake approximately 15 minutes or until your cake tester comes out clean. Once they are done, set out on a wire rack to cool.

The icing is the creme de la creme as they say…

It is a little labor intensive but so worth the effort. I must say I have never done icing like this but I conquered it and I know you will too.

First, sift your flour into a small saucepan that has your milk already added. Over medium heat, start whisking the mixture continuously until it begins to thicken. You may need to turn heat down to low. You don’t want this to burn to the bottom of your pan. This process takes about 15 minutes so be patient. Keep stirring until it is almost too thick to stir.

Remove pan from heat and place ban on a bowl of ice to quicken cooling.

While that is cooling, you can begin creaming your sugar and butter.

Place your softened butter in your mixing bowl. Put your sugar into a food processor or bullet until the sugar is fine. Add the sugar to the butter and mix until it is almost white. Add the extracts.

Once the flour mixture has cooled, add to the sugar mixture. Continue mixing until you have the consistency of whipped cream.

If you want your icing to have color, add the drops in now…

I wanted pink so I added 4 drops. After you have done this, give the mixture another minute of mixing and then you may begin frosting your cupcakes.

The thing I liked about this icing recipe is, though it looks like whipped cream, the consistency holds up a little better than that. It was so decadent, I was heavy on the icing. It is the best part, right?

Although, the box mix cheat wasn’t half bad either. The structure was light but not as hollow as you get with a box mix. I was very pleased.

The pink color looks delightful and would be perfect for a little girl’s tea party or a garden club meeting.

This was part of our picnic series but before I could get outside with them, they were all eaten up! So if that tells you anything, this is a recipe your kids will enjoy as well as the grownups.

Cupcakes are great desserts on the run because they are easy to serve and they always bring a smile to everyone’s face no matter if you are a 5 year old or a 95 year old!

These almond cupcakes are perfect for wedding showers & more!

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White Cupcakes with Almond Icing

Ingredients

• 1 Box White Cake Mix
• 2/3 Cup Butter This is in substitution for oil on box mix
• 1 1/4 Cup Milk This is in substitution for water on box mix
• 1/2 Cup Plain Flour
• 2 Cups Whole Milk
• 1 Tsp. Almond Extract
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 2 Cups Butter softened
• 2 Cups Granulated Sugar
• Sliced Almonds optional for decoration

Instructions

1. For Cupcakes:

   Line your cupcake pans with cupcake liners. 

   
   

2. Preheat oven to 350.

3. Mix cake mix, eggs and butter until well blended then add in milk in increments mixing well.

4. Fill your liners with the mix til the cups are 2/3 full. 

5. Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

   
   

   
   

6. Let cool for 10 minutes before icing.

7. Icing Recipe:

   Sift flour and whisk into the milk in small saucepan over medium heat.

8. Continuously stir mixture until it thickens, lowering the heat if necessary. You don't want it to burn to the bottom of the pan. 

9. Mixture is ready when it is too thick almost to stir. This should take about 15 minutes.

10. Remove pan from heat and place pan in a bowl of ice water. This will speed up the cooling.

11. While the flour mixture is cooling, begin creaming the butter and sugar.

    
    

12. Process the sugar in a food processor or ninja bullet. Do this until the sugar is really fine.

13. Cream together the butter and sugar until the mixture is almost white.

    
    

14. Test to see if the flour mixture has cooled. Add the extracts to the sugar mixture and blend well. Add the extracts mixing well.

15. Keep mixing well, scraping the sides of bowl making sure it all gets mixed.

    
    

16. If you want a color, you may add now. 

17. The consistency looks like whipped cream when done.

    
    

18. Once cupcakes are cooled, you may add the icing.

More fancy picnic recipes this way…

This post was written by Macy, the incredible mother & mother-in-law of the bloggers here at Puppies & Piña Coladas. She loves spending time with her daughters, granddoggies and grandkitty. She is a phenomenal southern cook and will be posting her secret recipes and amazing crafts regularly on the site.