An easy, high altitude recipe for soft almond cupcakes, frosted with fluffy, brown butter almond buttercream and sprinkled with chopped almonds. If you love almond flavored cakes, pastries and baked goods, then this almond cupcake recipe is for you!
You might also love this almond poppy seed cake, almond cream cheese coffee cake, and cardamom almond loaf cake.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
So Soft and Fluffy. These almond cupcakes are based on my popular vanilla cake recipe, with almond extract to flavor the cake and frosting. They have a soft, fluffy texture and stay moist for days.
Standard Pantry Ingredients. Today’s recipe uses simple ingredients that you’re likely to already have on hand.
High Altitude Tested. I develop and test all of my recipes at Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet, so other mountain bakers can be assured of consistent, reliable results in their home baking.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- Cake Flour. Cake flour makes the best, lightest fluffiest white cakes and vanilla cakes. You can use all-purpose flour, if it’s all you have, but you really should try cake flour. I usually use either Swans Down Cake Flour or Softasilk Cake Flour.
- Sugar. Plain granulated sugar adds moisture, and of course, sweetness, to your cupcakes.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Baking Powder. Leavens the batter so the almond cupcakes rise as they bake.
- Eggs. Gives the cupcakes structure and strength.
- Whole Milk. Adds moisture and fat, for a tender texture.
- Unsalted Butter. Gives the cupcakes moisture and a rich, buttery flavor.
- Vanilla + Almond Extracts. Flavor.
Buttercream
- Butter. To complement the flavor of the almonds, you’ll be browning the butter first, for a deeper, richer, nuttier flavor.
- Almonds. Crushed almonds sprinkled over the buttercream look beautiful and add a nutty crunch. Toast the almonds first, to bring out more flavor.
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the frosting.
- Meringue Powder. Adds stability and improves texture.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness and enhances the flavor of the almonds.
- Vanilla + Almond Extracts. Flavor.
- Milk. Use as needed to thin the buttercream if it’s too thick.
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line your muffin pan/s with 15 paper liners.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder, then whisk until everything is well distributed.
- Separately, whisk together the eggs, milk, melted butter, vanilla and almond extracts. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and whisk just until combined.
- Divide the batter between the paper liners, filling them no more than 2/3 – 3/4 full.
- Bake the cupcakes on the center oven rack for about 18 minutes, until the centers of the cupcakes spring back when gently touched, or a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pans for several minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
Brown the butter.
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter, swirling the pan occasionally. It will hiss and spatter a bit, as the water evaporates, and the milk solids settle onto the bottom of the pan. When it’s nearly ready, a layer of foam will form on top of the butter, and if you nudge the foam aside, you’ll see nutty, golden brown milk solids on the bottom of the pan (if they turn dark brown or black, you’ve gone too far and burned the butter). The browning process might take about 5-10 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and use a spatula to scrape all the browned milk solids off the bottom of the pan. Pour the browned butter and all the browned bits into a bowl.
- Let cool until the butter returns to a spreadable solid consistency. To speed this up, put the bowl in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours and stir the butter every 20 minutes or so until it’s firmed up but still spreadable. You can also make the browned butter the night before, and let it sit at room temperature overnight to firm back up.
Toast and chop the almonds.
- Meanwhile, toast the almonds. Preheat the oven to 300 F, and spread the almonds into a baking pan or baking sheet. Bake for about 8-10 minutes, until hot and fragrant.
- Cool completely, then finely chop, either with a knife or a small food processor.
Whip the buttercream.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt. With the mixer running on low, add the powdered sugar mixture by spoonfuls to the butter, mixing just until combined. The buttercream will be clumpy at this point.
- Add the vanilla and almond extracts, and increase the speed to medium. Whip the buttercream for about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl several times, until very light and fluffy, adding the milk only as needed for desired consistency.
- Spread or pipe the buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes, then sprinkle with the chopped almonds.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I add chopped almonds to the cupcake batter?
Yes, if you want a little more texture in the almond cupcakes, you can add about 1/4 cup finely crushed almonds to the batter. Just add them along with the other dry ingredients.
What piping tip did you use?
I used tip 1M to pipe the buttercream.
You Might Also Like
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High Altitude Almond Cupcakes
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Standard-Sized Muffin Pan
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 ½ cups + 2 tbsp cake flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup whole milk
- ½ cup melted butter or vegetable oil
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ tsp almond extract
Buttercream
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, browned and cooled to a room temperature solid
- ½ cup almonds, lightly toasted and very finely chopped
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder (optional)
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ tsp almond extract
- 2-3 tbsp milk or cream, only if needed
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line your muffin pan/s with 15 paper liners.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder, then whisk until everything is well distributed.
- Separately, whisk together the eggs, milk, melted butter, vanilla and almond extracts. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and whisk just until combined.
- Divide the batter between the paper liners, filling them no more than 2/3 – 3/4 full.
- Bake the cupcakes on the center oven rack for about 18 minutes, until the centers of the cupcakes spring back when gently touched, or a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pans for several minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter, swirling the pan occasionally. It will hiss and spatter a bit, as the water evaporates, and the milk solids settle onto the bottom of the pan. When it's nearly ready, a layer of foam will form on top of the butter, and if you nudge the foam aside, you'll see nutty, golden brown milk solids on the bottom of the pan (if they turn dark brown or black, you've gone too far and burned the butter). The browning process might take about 5-10 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and use a spatula to scrape all the browned milk solids off the bottom of the pan. Pour the browned butter and all the browned bits into a bowl.
- Let cool until the butter returns to a spreadable solid consistency. To speed this up, put the bowl in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours and stir the butter every 20 minutes or so until it's firmed up but still spreadable. You can also make the browned butter the night before, and let it sit at room temperature overnight to firm back up.
- Meanwhile, toast the almonds. Preheat the oven to 300 F, and spread the almonds into a baking pan or baking sheet. Bake for about 8-10 minutes, until hot and fragrant. Cool completely, then finely chop, either with a knife or a small food processor.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt. With the mixer running on low, add the powdered sugar mixture by spoonfuls to the butter, mixing just until combined. The buttercream will be clumpy at this point.
- Add the vanilla and almond extracts, and increase the speed to medium. Whip the buttercream for about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl several times, until very light and fluffy, adding the milk only as needed for desired consistency.
- Spread or pipe the buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes, then sprinkle with the chopped almonds.
Made these for my sister in law’s birthday & they were delicious!!