I almost don't have words for these little gems of cupcake glory. It all started with some beautiful local cherries. I ate a bunch of them and then forgot were in the fridge. I was going to make some sort of pie but then I got to thinking about how pretty they would be in buttercream. After a little creative inter-webbing (trying to get that to be a thing like "Fetch," thanks Gretchen Wiener) I saw a recipe for Almond Cupcakes with Cherry Buttercream from tasteandtellblog.com and knew exactly how the cherries would spend their last moments.
The cupcakes are light and moist with just a hint of almond. The original recipe uses quite a bit (in my opinion) of almond extract. I equate almond extract with lighter fluid - use a little you can barely taste it, use too much and it is basically an inedible mess up in flames. I use equal parts almond extract and pure vanilla. They balance each other really nicely without the overpowering almond flavor. I kind of think they are the perfect birthday cupcake. I also used coconut milk instead of buttermilk. Mostly, because I didn't have buttermilk and I thought if you got a little taste of coconut, it could be lovely. I couldn't taste it and it was lovely anyway.
Now for the buttercream. While the cupcakes are cooling, pit the cherries. What a pain! Oh wait, I have a Tovolo Cherry Pitter! That was a slightly shameless product plug but seriously, without it I probably wouldn't bake anything with cherries.
The Tovolo Cherry Pitter is really simple to use and you can pit up to 7 cherries at a time. It pits cherries really cleanly without losing too much of the fruit. As a bonus, you don't get juice everywhere or stain your fingers.
Let's move onto the important subject - buttercream. Now that your cherries are beautifully pitted, chop them pretty finely. You want to end up with about 1 cup of chopped cherries. I started out kind of rough cutting them but then I realized that if the pieces are too large it would be abrupt interruption to a mouthful of this smooth and subtle cherry buttercream. I love the way the buttercream came together and then when you add the cherries, it was one of the most beautiful colors I have ever seen. A perfectly cherry studded shade of pink. Cherry perfection!
Who needs food coloring?
Almond Cupcakes with Fresh Cherry Buttercream
adapted from tasteandtell.com
Serves: 18 cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup butter, at room temperature
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup coconut milk - full fat
Fresh Cherry Frosting:
- 1 cup butter, at room temperature
- 3½ cups powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup fresh cherries, pitted and finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 18- muffin cups with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt and mix to combine.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl in between additions. Beat in the almond extract. Add one-third of the flour mixture, beat to combine, then half of the coconut milk. Add another one-third of the flour, the remaining coconut milk, then the remaining flour. Beat just until combined.
- Fill the cupcake liners about ⅔ full of the batter. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Remove from the pans and cool completely.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add in the powdered sugar, ½ cup at a time, mixing until completely combined. Beat in the salt and the extracts, then turn the mixer to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in the cherries and any juices that may have accumulated. Beat on low until combined, then turn to medium-high and beat an additional 2-3 minutes. The frosting should be light and creamy and smooth.
- Pipe the frosting on the cupcakes. Top with an additional cherry, if desired. (Toasted Coconut is really nice too)
tovolo.com
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