Fluffy White Cupcakes with French Almond Buttercream
This French Buttercream has no grittiness because it’s made without confectioner’s sugar! It’s luscious, fluffy and perfectly whipped.
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 made these White Velvet Cupcakes.
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
Instructions
- 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.
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
46 Comments on “Fluffy White Cupcakes with French Almond Buttercream”
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!
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 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/
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!
It looks awsome… We love it…
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!
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!
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 =)
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 =)
They do look wonderful! And that frosting sounds divine!
Thanks! It’s one of my favorite buttercreams to make.
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 =)
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 =)
A kitchen scale is a must, I too use mine just about everyday.
Glad to hear you find it as useful as I do!
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? =)
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!
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!