Food For You: Cherry Almond Cupcakes

As promised, here is the recipe for those adorable little cupcakes from my previous post. There's some work involved because everything is made from scratch, but I promise you, they are totally worth it!

What You Need:
Batter:
-1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
-4 egg whites
-2 cups all-purpose flour
-1 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp baking soda
-3/4 cup buttermilk
-1/3 cup maraschino cherry juice
-1 1/2 cups sugar
-1 tsp vanilla
-1/2 tsp almond extract
-12 maraschino cherries, halved

Frosting:
-1/2 cup butter
-4 cups powdered sugar
-3 Tbls maraschino cherry juice
-1/2 tsp almond extract
-optional: extra cherry juice or milk

and of course, any cute decorations you want to add :)

Batter:
First you want to let the butter and eggs stand at room temperature for at least 30 mins. This allows the ingredients to be absorbed better into the mix. Then, pre-heat your oven to 350°F. Next, stir together your dry ingredients and then in a separate bowl mix together the buttermilk and cherry juice.
Beat the butter until fluffy and then slowly add the sugar, vanilla and almond extract. Next, add your egg whites one at a time, beating well after each egg. Alternately add the dry mixture and the buttermilk mixture to the wet ingredients (with egg). Again, make sure you beat well after to each addition to make sure everything is distributed evenly into the batter.
Then, spoon the batter into cupcake tins lined with paper liners. Smooth out the top of the batters and then insert half a cherry right into the top of the cupcake. Pop those babies into the oven for about 15 to 18 mins. *Insert a toothpick into the cupcake and when you take it out you should see moist crumbs. Let these cool completely on wire racks.

Frosting:
Beat butter until fluffy and then gradually add one cup of sugar, beating well. Next beat in the cherry juice and the almond extract. Then, slowly beat in the other 3 cups of powdered sugar. If your frosting seems too think or dry, add some milk or additional cherry juice. Once it is at your desired consistency, you can add some food coloring to make it extra pink :)
Use a knife or piping bag to frost your cupcakes (I used a zip lock bag with the tip cut off, not the neatest option, but it gets the job done). And now for the fun part(besides eating them of course): decorating! I bought these adorable little pearl sprinkles and polka dot liners and boxes from Michaels Arts and Crafts store and it went perfectly with the color and flavor of the cupcake. And last, I topped with a whole cherry of course!

ENJOY!

Photos: Adorn Me
Recipe: Better Homes & Gardens 2011 Cupcakes Issue