Small Batch Wedding Cupcakes

Small Batch Wedding Cake Cupcakes

One of my favorite items at Gigi's Cupcakes is the Wedding Cake Cupcake, and this small batch cupcake recipe gives me all of the thrills with none of the downsides. It may sound boring to some people, but I just adore the hint of almond and vanilla and the purity of the white cake and white icing. Even for a dedicated sweet tooth like mine, however, Gigi's mountain of frosting on an oversized cupcake can be a bit much, and I'm just not in the store's neighborhood that often. An issue in making your own cupcakes, though, especially when you are a Single Grrl, is that most recipes make at least a dozen, and often two dozen, and they can be hard to cut down to make fewer. Luckily I stumbled across a great small-batch vanilla cupcake recipe several years ago. It only makes six home-style cupcakes, which is great when you want to have enough to share but not enough to have endless stale leftovers. I've tweaked the recipe to give it that "wedding cake" flavor, but you could easily revert to regular vanilla cupcakes by omitting the almond flavoring. While they are not a duplicate of Gigi's, they are tender and flavorful, just perfect for a sweet bite with tea or coffee or as a fun dessert, with or without colorful sprinkles.

Tips:

• I have mixing bowls in two sizes; I use the smaller one for both the cupcake batter and the frosting, even though they are really larger than necessary for this small recipe. Mixing bowls are straight-sided, and help prevent chasing the the ingredients around as would be necessary with a slope-sided bowl like a salad bowl. If you don't have small mixing bowls, however, use whatever bowls you'd normally use with a hand-held mixer.
• You can substitute sour cream or plain regular (not Greek) yogurt, thinned with milk, for the buttermilk. Please do not sub a concoction of regular milk and lemon juice or vinegar. If you do not have buttermilk, sour cream, or yogurt, use regular milk.
• Refrigerate the leftover egg yolk and toss into scrambled eggs, an omelet, or a quiche within a couple of days.
• For vanilla cupcakes, just omit the almond flavoring. You could also omit the almond and substitute lemon or orange flavoring or zest for lemon or orange cupcakes.
• The frosting is light and fluffy through the use of heavy cream and thorough whipping. You can substitute milk, but the end result will be a little more dense.
• The amount of frosting per cupcake is just right to my taste, but if you want a more generous topping, double the frosting recipe.

Small-Batch Wedding Cake Cupcakes

Adapted from Baking Mischief

CUPCAKES

3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg white
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (I use White Lily)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375°F. Add cupcake liners to 6 cups of a cupcake pan.

Combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Using a handheld electric mixer on high speed, cream together until light and fluffy. Add egg white and flavorings. Beat until smooth.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt (if using). Add half of this mixture to the butter and sugar and mix on low until incorporated. Add buttermilk and mix in thoroughly, then add remaining flour mixture, scraping sides with a spatula as needed. Increase speed to medium and mix until the batter is smooth. Give it another stir with the spatula, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure all of the ingredients have been incorporated.

Using a soup spoon or serving spoon, divide batter between prepared cupcake cups. Tap the pan on the counter a couple of times to level the batter and knock out any large air bubbles.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes. The cupcakes are done when they look set and the edges are just starting to have a hint of brown. You can also test with a toothpick or skewer to make sure they are done in the middle.

Allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes, then remove the cupcakes to a rack. Allow to cool completely before frosting. They may shrink a bit as they cool.

FROSTING

4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
Pinch of salt (omit if using salted butter)

Combine butter, powdered sugar, cream, flavorings, and salt (if using) in a mixing bowl. Beat until smooth, then continue beating to incorporate more air to increase the fluffiness. Frost the cooled cupcakes with a teaspoon or piping bag. Add sprinkles if desired.