Card Club Cupcakes

Tonight my parents are hosting card club at their house and my mom asked us to whip up some cupcakes for the event! To fit the theme I told her we could cut out hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades out of fondant. Super cute and fitting for the event, right? Well it was a good idea until she told me she wanted mini cupcakes and I was unable to find miniature cookie cutters in stores or online. Of course the diamonds were super easy. Hearts and spades a little more challenging. And the clubs a huge thorn in my side. All in all though, they turned out super cute! And it all was worth it when I saw my mom's look of awe. She is always amazed with our fondant creations!

And I am proud to present our two most recent additions to the "go-to recipe list." Lemon and Almond!! Woohoo! The lemon is the same recipe that I used this past fall when I made the lemon cupcakes with raspberry frosting, but somehow managed to forget how perfect these little buggers were! This time I paired them with a lemon cream cheese frosting! Simply took our staple cream cheese recipe and added a little lemon zest and lemon juice and replaced the vanilla with lemon extract.

Michele and I are in love with this almond cupcake recipe!! Like Michele said, it tastes like a spritz cookie! It is a moist and delicate cupcake with a subtle almond flavor! I forget the name of the cookbook that we found this in, but it is one that Michele just picked up at Kohl's for $5!! A cookbook for $5 is almost unheard of!! I think a trip to Kohl's is in store for me later today to pick up a copy for myself!

Almond Cupcakes

1 3/4 cup sour cream
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a large bowl, cream one cup sour cream, butter, and oil.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir in the sugar.

Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter mixture one-third at a time. Mix thoroughly after each addition.

In another bowl, mix the eggs, 3/4 cup sour cream, almond extract, and vanilla. Add the egg mixture to the batter in thirds, beating for one minute after each addition.

Fill liners 3/4 full. Bake for 25 minutes for regular size cupcakes or 17 minutes for mini cupcakes.


Sure nice to follow up a failed cupcake attempt with two successes!!
-Jess