Fluffy White Cupcakes with French Almond Buttercream
There are a bazillion cupcake recipes out there, so why on earth should you pay attention to this one?
Because 1) Most of them are terrible. Like, really bad. How many disappointing cupcake recipes have you tried? I know I’ve been disappointed by quite a few over the years.
and 2) This is *the only* white cake I will make for the rest of my life, and if you try it, I’m pretty sure you’ll agree that these are IT.
I know, that’s a pretty big statement to make.
But I don’t think it’s POSSIBLE for a cupcake to get any more fluffy, light, or flavorful than this one.
No, it’s just not possible.
These are too good.
I came across this recipe on another blog, Sweetapolita, and Rosie’s opening line caught my attention:
“8640 minutes, 144 hours, 25 loads of dishes, 7 recipes, 8 pounds of butter, a few tears, a couple of happy children, and 1 relieved husband later, I have finally found it: a new favourite classic vanilla cake recipe!”
I did my own frosting and topped the cupcakes with a French almond buttercream that uses up the leftover egg yolks from the cake. If you’ve never tried making a true buttercream, these cupcakes deserve it. Give it a try, you’ll find yourself never going back to those quick buttercreams (butter whipped with confectioner’s sugar…blah. Gritty and boring).
For the cupcakes, I really didn’t change them much from Rosie’s cake. Follow her directions to make the batter but instead of baking it in 2 9-inch cake pans, line 24 cupcake wells with paper liners. Fill each well 1/2 to 2/3 full with cupcake batter, and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees F.
But, a few notes about these cupcakes:
-Weigh the ingredients. Yes, in grams. That way it is exact, there’s just way too much variation when measuring. If you don’t have a scale already, please, get one (I use this very highly rated OXO scale). I use mine every day, it’s absolutely essential.
-As Rosie notes, most cakes are overbaked. After 20 minutes, using an oven mitt, jiggle the pan and pay attention to the structure of the cupcake. If it jiggles a lot, it’s not done. If you look closely, you can tell when the structure of a cupcake is set (and keep in mind, the cake will cook a little extra after it leaves the oven). Whatever you do, don’t take the cupcakes out of the oven when jiggling or looking, or else they may collapse if they aren’t set. Reach into the oven and do it, quickly.
To make the French buttercream, start with 5 egg yolks in the bowl of a stand mixer:
Whip on high speed for about 8-10 minutes. They will start to lighten up:
And after a full 10 minutes, they’ll be a very pale yellow, like this:
Pour in a sugar syrup cooked to the soft ball stage (238 degrees F on a thermometer), and whip this for 5 minutes. It will start to turn white in color:
Little by little, whip in the butter and add the almond extract:
It’s now ready to be piped or spread onto cooled cupcakes!
French Almond Buttercream
Ingredients:
- 5 egg yolks
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 sticks butter, cut into cubes
- 3/4 tsp almond extract
Directions:
- In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg yolks on high speed for 10 minutes until they are very pale.
- In the meantime, combine the sugar and water in a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, and let the sugar syrup simmer to the soft ball stage (238 degrees on an instant read thermometer).
- When both the egg yolks and the sugar syrup are ready, pour the sugar syrup into the mixing bowl (the mixer should still be on high speed), aiming as best as you can to pour between the wire whisk and the side of the bowl.
- Now if you touch the bottom of the bowl, it will be very hot. Beat the egg yolk sugar mixture until the bowl feels neither hot nor cold (about 5 minutes).
- Turn the mixer down to medium and add the butter, a couple cubes at a time to the bowl, over the course of 10 minutes. Wait until each installment of butter is absorbed until you add the next batch. Add the almond extract, then pipe or spread your buttercream on your cupcakes. If the buttercream is too loose, refrigerate until it reaches your desired consistency.
Looks yummy! Alas, no scale, stand mixer or candy thermometer….so perfection will have to wait! *sigh*
🙁 You could do this without a stand mixer, though the thermometer is pretty important. You could try making the cupcakes by measuring, but I’m not sure they will be at their best. Baking is finnicky! haha. Such a precise process. Got a birthday coming up or something? I always try to put cooking things on my list!
Hello sounds amazing ! I just wanted to know if you use normal butter or unsalted butter? Thank you x
Hi Munni, I always use unsalted butter but it won’t matter much if you use salted. Enjoy!
This frosting is really new to me, I made the regular buttercream and also the swiss meringue, but never try to make one with yolks…!!!
Nydia, you should try it with the yolks, it makes it super creamy and luscious!
Yumm! I’m sure there is too much butter to call these healthy? I’m guess. But that’s okay. Sometimes a real cupcake is absolutely required!
Love the butter cream.
HAHA yeah, these definitely don’t go in the healthy category. But they are certainly healthier than twinkie, right? =)
A kitchen scale is a must, I too use mine just about everyday.
Glad to hear you find it as useful as I do!
The cupcake is beautiful. I’ve never had French Almond Buttercream. I can’t wait to try it. I am sure I can find someone to share the cupcakes with.
Thanks Steph! French buttercream is with all the egg yolks, it’s creamier than the Italian kind. I like that it uses up the leftover egg yolks from the cupcake recipe =)
Hi!
I’m new here, and I know you are on vacation. There is no reason to rush to answer this, but when you can…I was browsing around and came upon a lavender cookie. It looked wonderful but I couldn’t print or pin it. I love your blog. Thanks for any help you can give me.
Carole
Hi Carole! Right now I am in the process of reformatting all of my old posts so that they are printable as well as saveable through Ziplist. I have over 300 recipes so it’s been slow going through them, but my goal is to get it all done within the next 10 days. I will go ahead and reformat the lavender cookie one right now though so that’s available to you. Thanks for understanding and let me know if there are any others in particular that you want done now =)
They do look wonderful! And that frosting sounds divine!
Thanks! It’s one of my favorite buttercreams to make.
Mmmm, French almond buttercream? How interesting! I’ve never heard of that but it sounds really lovely.
Hey Erin, French buttercream is made with egg yolks so it’s a lot creamier and got a luscious mouthfeel to it. I like that it uses up the leftover egg yolks from the cupcake recipe =)
Looks like I will need some scales soon, I used to measure my baking with cups
You won’t regret it! If you want precise baking it’s definitely the way to go =)
Trying these soon! My husband loves white cake, and I have yet to find one that is any good! Amazing job with the frosting too – so perfect!
Erin, I really think the cake is awesome. I’ve made it several times now and it always comes out great, just make sure to weigh the ingredients and follow Rosie’s instructions exactly, and don’t overbake or it will be dry. Let me know how it goes!
As often as I bake, I never (ever) make cake or cupcakes. The closest I’ve gotten are whoopie pies, which are cake-like I suppose. BUT. These cupcakes look great. Nice, rich, fully white cake is pretty amazing. I’ve had a lot of dry & gross cupcakes in my day. This might be the recipe to turn me into a cake maker, Joanne.
Can’t blame you Tommy, most cupcakes aren’t worth making…so many bad ones! I was so excited when I found these!
It looks awsome… We love it…
This sounds terrific! I can’t wait to try the buttercream. I’m testing out my skills at the moment and the only buttercream I know is with confectionery.
It’s more work than the quick buttercreams, but I usually think it’s worth it. Let me know what you think!
I tried making the buttercream today, and it was delicious! But just one problem…it was too runny, even after I refrigerated it for several hours. I piped it onto the cooled cupcake and within one minute, it was running along the sides of the cupcake. I’m not the best baker, so I’m sure I did something wrong when I made it (or because room temperature in Texas is hotter than other rooms). Any idea what I did wrong? Tasted great, though. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Lisa, It sounds like the sugar’s temperature might not have been hot enough (did you happen to test the sugar and see if it formed a soft ball?) Were you using a good thermometer you think? Also, you say the buttercream was runny, but did it seem greasy/broken? That would indicate that the butter got too melty, just wanted to throw that idea out there too. But it sounds like it was the sugar. True buttercream is tricky stuff sometimes…certainly tougher to do than butter mixed with powdered sugar, but it tastes much better!
If you wanted to test out the accuracy of your thermometer/test for the soft ball stage manually, I have a picture and explanation here: https://www.fifteenspatulas.com/2010/11/29/double-bourbon-pecan-and-walnut-pralines/
I’m looking for a cupcake that rises high above the wrapper so it makes a good “dome” to frost….do these do that??
Brianne, they do a little bit, but I wouldn’t really call it a dome. I’m not sure how dramatic of a dome you are looking for. Another option would be to cut out a little bit of the top, fill it with buttercream or whatever filling, and put the “cap” back on. That would give it a little more height, and a filling as well.
I made this tonight for Christmas to go along with a white cake I had already made. I think my temp must have been off because mine was runny too, even after refrigeration. I totally improvised though and drizzled the icing on top of the cake and then topped with a few almonds and cherries. The taste was never compromised! Next time I will try the cake recipe as well.
Hi Brooke, bravo to you for improvising! That’s the sign of a good, creative cook. Cooked sugar is always tough…the degrees change quickly once it gets going and the stages range such a small amount. Hope you had a lovely Christmas!
Looks so yummy. Perfect for my little ones birthday. Does the sugar syrup “cook” the eggs, or will I need to buy pasteurized eggs? Thanks!
Hi Bryn, the mixture gets pretty darn hot (if you touch the side of the bowl you can feel), but honestly I’m not sure what temperature it cooks to because I’ve never measured it, so I can’t say that it’s completely cooked.
I just made this frosting and it’s delicious! It didn’t turn too runny, but I just added an extra half stick of butter to firm it up and 1 tsp. salt. Thanks so much for the recipe!!
“Luscious” is definitely the word for this frosting. The. Best. I have ever had. Is there a chocolate version out there? Thank you!
That’s great Leah! I haven’t tried to come up with a chocolate version yet, but this recipe uses egg whites so you could freeze the leftover egg whites from this recipe and save them for this one: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/chocolate-buttercream-frosting-recipe/index.html
I decided to make cake balls yesterday, with a boxed cake cause I was feeling lazy, and this frosting as the binder. The buttercream was really fun to make, although I was wingin’ it without a thermometer. Unfortunately, by the end when I added all the ingredients, it just tasted like butter with a little sugar, not like good buttercream. It turned out fine– I added peanut butter and my family went nuts for the cake balls– but do you have any idea if messing with the temp for the sugar syrup would have affected the taste? Thanks for the recipe, I had fun!
Hi Claire, yes, I think not using a thermometer is going to trouble the results significantly. It’s so important to get it to an exact 238 since the sugar stages are so narrow in temperature. Different degrees to which the sugar is cooked affects the flavor. I’m glad that you were able to use the peanut butter to good results!
These cupcakes melt in your mouth! They are delicious. I accidentally overlooked the weighing part so they did not all come out so pretty looking. Will make them again the right way. Excellent recipe though.
They are my favorite cupcakes! Glad you enjoyed them.