Amaretto cupcakes from Cupcake Heaven magazine

Learn how to bake delicious amaretto cupcakes from Cupcake Heaven magazine with food blogger Helen from Casa Costello.

I have been baking cupcakes for some years now and consider myself experienced in baking and decorating. Even so, Cupcake Heaven magazine never fails to have plenty in it to keep me interested.

I never have a problem choosing new recipes to bake — in fact, the problem is stopping myself from baking too many! I chose quite a simple but tasty recipe this time — amaretto cupcakes — a light vanilla sponge with a hint of amaretto and a rich, buttery frosting.

A lot of the recipes in the magazine come from baking blogs and websites, which makes it a great source to find new material and ideas for baking. This recipe comes from Sarah Sibley of BakewithSarah.com.

As well as many fabulous recipes, the magazine contains plenty of baking and decorating tips — there are tutorials on making piping bags, making a cute fondant zebra & how to make marzipan roses (they look suspiciously like fondant roses to me, but they are still beautiful).

There are recipes from Gluten Free Diets, a section for lighter bakes for the health conscious and even 15-minute cupcakes for the time short baker.

Whether you are new to baking cupcakes or more experienced, there is something for everyone. As experienced as I am, my ‘to bake’ list has bulged with new ideas… Chocolate cupcakes topped with butterscotch, rhubarb crumble & custard cupcakes, chocolate hazelnut cupcakes… and that’s just for starters!

Here’s the recipe for the cupcakes. They were super simple to make and turned out so nicely. Happy baking!

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

175g (6oz) Soft Butter
175g (6oz) Caster Sugar
½ tsp Vanilla Extract
6 tbsp Amaretto
3 Medium Free Range Eggs
125g (4oz) Self Raising Flour
50g (1 ¾ oz) Ground Almonds

For the frosting

I found just half of this amount will cover the 12 cupcakes

500G (1lb 1oz) Icing Sugar
225g (8oz) Unsalted Butter (softened)

Prep Time – 20 minutes (including preheating the oven and lining the cupcake cases) + 10 minutes for piping frosting

Cooking time – The recipe states 25 minutes – I ended up turning them in the oven and giving them another 4 minutes. Depends on your oven.

Total Time – 59 Minutes (Less than an hour!)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160C and line 12 muffin tins with cases.
2. Using an electric mixer, whisk the butter and caster sugar together until pale, fluffy and fully combined.
3. Add in the vanilla and half of the amaretto (3 tbsp) whilst still mixing on a medium setting.
4. Add in the eggs, one at a time until fully combined — you may need to add a tbsp of the flour if the mixture starts to split.
5. Fold in the flour and ground almonds using a spatula and figure of 8 until just combined. Be careful not to overmix!
6. Divide evenly between the muffin cases and bake for 25 minutes — I needed to cook for a further 4 minutes after turning them around for an even golden bake.
7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool fully.
8. Meanwhile, whisk together the icing sugar and second lot of butter until pale and fluffy.
9. Add in the remaining amaretto. If your mixture is too runny, you may need to add more icing sugar.
10. Fill a piping bag (preferably fitted with a funky nozzle) with the frosting and pipe a swirl. I start in the centre and work my way outwards.