Honey Almond Cupcakes Food

HONEYCOMB CUPCAKES CENTERPIECE

Steps:

• For the almond bees: Fill a piping bag with a very small round tip with the chocolate. Pipe 2 eyes side by side on the rounder end of each almond, followed by 3 crosswise stripes starting in the middle of the almond down to the narrower end. Attach 2 sliced almonds (like wings) to the top chocolate stripe (the one closest to the eyes). Repeat to make 18 almond bees total. Allow to dry.
• For the sugar cookies: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Beat the butter and both sugars in another medium bowl with a handheld electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Add the eggs and vanilla, mixing until fully incorporated. Slowly add the flour mixture and continue beating just until the dough comes together, stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Divide the dough in half, pat into discs, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
• Generously flour a clean work surface. Gently roll out the chilled dough to about 3/8-inch thick. Cut 24 cookies using a 2 1/4-inch hexagon cookie cutter, working quickly so that the dough stays chilled. (If the dough has become too soft, transfer to the refrigerator on a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill again for 30 minutes.) Place the cookies on ungreased baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them. Lightly dust off any excess flour with a dry pastry brush. Refrigerate the formed cookies for at least 30 minutes. (Excess dough can be gathered together, pressed into a disc, chilled and rerolled.)
• Bake the cookies until the bottoms are golden, about 10 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets until firm enough to transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. If not using right away, cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
• For the decorative cookie border: To create the honeycomb shapes on your sugar cookies, roll the yellow fondant out and cut out 24 hexagon shapes with a 2 1/4-inch hexagon cutter.
• Place a 1 1/4-inch hexagon cutter in the center of your existing fondant hexagon shape and press. Remove the center piece.
• Thinly frost the cookies with some buttercream. Place a cut-out hexagon fondant border on each cookie.
• Mix the clear and yellow sanding sugars together, and then fill the inner space of the cookies with the mixed sugar. Flip the cookies over to shake out any excess sanding sugar. Reserve the remaining sugar mixture for the cupcakes.
• To assemble the cupcakes: Frost the vanilla mini cupcakes with some buttercream using a pastry bag fitted with a star tip. Sprinkle with some of the sanding sugar mixture. Garnish 12 of the mini cupcakes with 1 almond bee. Reserve the additional 6 bees to garnish the honeycomb cookie cupcakes.
• Frost the standard-size frangipane cupcakes with some buttercream using a mini offset spatula.
• Dip the outside edges of the frosted cupcakes into the mixed sanding sugar and place the hexagon sugar cookies on top.
• To build the honeycomb structure: Place 14 of the standard-size cupcakes in a hexagonal honeycomb pattern. Stack 7 more cupcakes, making a second tier in the honeycomb pattern, saving 3 cupcakes to put on the top tier.
• Scatter 20 mini cupcakes (including 8 with the almond bees) around the base of the honeycomb structure. Garnish the structure with the remaining 4 mini cupcakes with almond bees. Then arrange the remaining 6 bees on the tops of the hexagon cookies.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F and position a rack in the middle of the oven. Line one 12-cup standard muffin tin or two 24-cup mini-muffin tins with cupcake liners.
• Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl.
• In another medium bowl, beat the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until light and foamy, about 2 minutes. While beating, gradually pour in the butter and then the vanilla.
• While mixing slowly, add half the dry ingredients. Then add all the milk and follow with the rest of the dry ingredients. Take care not to overmix the batter. Divide the batter evenly in the prepared tin.
• Bake until a tester inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, rotating the tin about halfway through, 18 to 20 minutes (10 to 12 minutes for minis). Cool the cupcakes on a rack in the tin for 10 minutes, and then remove from the tin. Cool on the rack completely. Decorate as desired.
• Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a saucepan that can hold a heatproof stand mixer's bowl above the water.
• Add the sugar, lemon juice, salt and egg whites to the mixing bowl, and whisk together by hand. Set the bowl above the boiling water and whisk until the mixture is warm to the touch and the sugar completely dissolves. Transfer to the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat at medium-high speed until cool and the whites hold stiff peaks, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Toss in a couple of chunks of butter at a time, making sure the pieces are incorporated before adding more. After all the butter is added, continue whisking on medium-high speed. The mixture will deflate and appear curdled. Continue whisking until the buttercream comes back together to form a smooth and spreadable consistency. Slowly drizzle in the optional flavoring while beating until smooth and light. (If the frosting is very soft or begins to break, refrigerate until set but still spreadable and then beat until light before using.)
• Chocolate:
• Remove the buttercream from the stand mixer into a large bowl and, in three batches, fold in 6 ounces melted and cooled bittersweet chocolate.
• Citrus:
• Stir in the zest of half a lemon or orange.
• Boozy:
• Stir in 2 tablespoons coffee-flavored liqueur and 1 tablespoon vodka.
• Pulse 4 tablespoons soft unsalted butter, 1 large egg, 3 tablespoons each almond paste, sugar and cake flour, and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract in a food processor until very smooth. Scrape out into a small baking dish and spread into an even layer. Freeze until firm, about 1 hour. Scoop 12 slightly heaping tablespoonfuls and roll into balls. Return to the freezer until firm again, about 30 minutes. Make batter for Go-To Vanilla Cupcakes (recipe above) and fill the bottom of each liner with a heaping tablespoonful of batter. Place 1 ball of frangipane in the center of each and divide the remaining batter among the liners to top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes.

ALMOND CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Cream butter at medium speed until smooth, add sugar and beat until well.
• Add two eggs, beat until smooth.
• Dump in the rest of your ingredients (you can whisk the dry ones together in a separate bowl first as way to "quick-sift" them) and beat until nice and smooth.
• Fill cupcake liners (or greased tins) 2/3 full, bake until golden brown (about 20 minutes, depending on your oven).
• Makes 24 regular size or approx 10 jumbo size.

HONEY ALMOND CRUNCH CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Thickly butter a 6-cup loaf pan. Pour in 3 tablespoons of the melted butter, swirl to coat the bottom, and sprinkle in 1/4-cup of the brown sugar. Drizzle in 2 tablespoons of the honey and sprinkle the almonds evenly over the bottom.
• In a large bowl, whisk the egg. Add the remaining 3/4-cup brown sugar and mix. Add the remaining 4 tablespoons melted butter and 1/2 cup honey and mix. Gradually mix in the buttermilk.
• In another large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Working in batches, and mixing after each addition, add the dry ingredients to the buttermilk mixture. Mix until smooth.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out dry and almost clean (a few crumbs are okay) 50 to 55 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and let cool until the topping is firm.

ALMOND HONEYCOMB CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Thoroughly butter a 12 1/4-by-11 2/3-inch honeycomb pull-apart dessert pan, making sure to cover all the detailed nooks and crannies. Lightly dust the pan with all-purpose flour (sifting the flour over the top of the pan works best; tap out excess).
• Beat the butter, salt and 1 3/4 cups of the sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, scraping down the sides as needed, until well combined (the butter does not need to be fluffy), about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time until incorporated (the mixture will first appear loose and broken, but will eventually come together). Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and beat into the butter mixture; reserve the pod for another use.
• Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the almond flour until combined. Add the all-purpose flour and beat on low until combined. Add the whiskey and beat on low until combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula. Tap the pan firmly on the counter a few times to force batter into the edges of the pan.
• Bake the cake until golden brown, the edges begin to pull away from the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center and edges of the cake comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto a serving plate; carefully remove the pan and very lightly brush away any excess flour from the top of the cake.
• Meanwhile, use a vegetable peeler to peel wide strips from half of the orange (about 6 strips).
• Boil the cardamom pods in 3/4 cup water in a small saucepan over medium heat until most of the water has evaporated and the mixture is very fragrant, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in 1 cup of the honey and the orange peels. Let sit for 5 minutes. Strain the mixture through a mesh sieve into a small glass measuring cup; discard the solids. The mixture should be very thin and slightly warm; gently re-heat if necessary. Slowly drizzle the mixture over the warm cake, allowing the cake to soak up the honey before adding more. Let the cake cool, about 1 hour.
• Just before serving, heat the remaining 1/4 cup sugar with 1 tablespoon water in small saucepan over medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves, 3 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup honey until combined, then remove from the heat and drizzle over the top of cake, allowing the honey to slowly drip over the sides and into each honeycomb.

ANGEL ALMOND CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Combine cake mix,water and almond extract in large mixing bowl.
• Beat at low speed with mixer until moistened.
• Beat at medium speed for one minute.
• Line medium muffin pans with paper baking cups.
• Fill muffin cups two-thirds full.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown, cracked and dry.
• Remove from muffin pans.
• Cool completely.
• Frost with frosting.

HONEY ALMOND CAKE

Steps:

• Combine coffee and honey in saucepan; bring to boil. Set aside to cool.
• Place dates in brandy and set aside.
• Blend oil, brown sugar, and eggs thoroughly in a large bowl.
• Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg.
• Add flour mixture and coffee mixture alternately to egg mixture.
• Fold in sliced almonds, dates with brandy, and lemon peel.
• Grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans. Spread bottoms with Honey Smear.
• Pour in batter. Bake in a preheated 350* oven for 1 hour or until cake tests done.
• Cool on rack to room temperature.
• Honey Smear:.
• Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl. Cream until light and well blended. Makes about 1 1/4 cups.