Honey almond cupcakes anyone ...

My friend Hallie from the Downtown Raleigh Farmer's Market asked me if I could whip up some cupcakes for an event that was planned this month for one of our Wednesday markets ... the Honey Buzzival which highlighted our local honey producers and some unique and creative ways to use honey.  She suggested bees given the honey theme and I was so, so, so very excited ... I love being creative ... its my middle name afterall :)

I wanted to make not only something cute but a cupcake that was made from honey too.  After much thought and consideration, I decided to make a very tasty and healthy cupcake .... a honey almond cupcake topped with a honey cream cheese buttercream.  Yum, yum, yum!!!!  You can find the recipe below. 

I do have a few pointers though that I wanted to pass on.  First, I love shortcuts ... especially when I am in a hurry ... so instead of the toasted and ground almond slices, I opted for the easier route ... ground almond meal.   Thanks to the folks at Trader Joe's ... this allowed me to save a bit of time and effort. 

Another pointer would be to drizzle the honey into the bowl as you are mixing the batter on low ... this will allow you to evenly incorporate the honey into the batter. 

For the cream cheese frosting, I also suggest that the cream cheese be cold when you add it to your mixer.  Plus, cream cheese frosting has the tendency to soften quite a bit during the mixing process or if left out of the refrigerator, so I would recommend refrigerating for at least an hour before decorating your cupcakes. 

My honey bees were made from layered strips of fondant cut and hand-molded and then you simply place two sliced almond wings on either side of the fonant body.  Simple!

Honey Cinnamon Cream Cheese Cupcakes
Yields 12-15 cupcakes

Honey Almond Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups almonds slices (toasted and grounded)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (170g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (170g) honey
1/4 cup (110g) sugar
3 large eggs (separate the whites and the yolks)
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Line cupcake tin
2. Toast 1 1/2 cup of almond slices in the oven for about 6 mins.
3. Grind the almonds in a food processor with 1/2 cup of the flour until very fine. In a medium bowl, combine the grounded almonds, remaining flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
4. Beat butter, honey, 1/2 of the sugar, almond extract and vanilla in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy.  Add the orange zest.  Add egg yolks one at the time at low speed... then switch to medium speed and continue beating for about 6-10 mins.

5. Add flour mixture in 3 equal parts to the yolk batter with a spatula, and then beat on low speed for 6 counts. Set aside.
6. Beat the egg whites with the remaining half of the sugar on low speed for 5 mins plus minutes.  Make sure the whites are not too stiff. When you lift up the paddle, the whites should drop to foam (a small hoop at the tip.)
7. Gently fold the whisked egg whites into the yolk batter in 3 parts. Fold with spatula lightly and quickly just until mixture is fully incorporated. Be careful not to over beat the mixture.
8. Spoon into cupcake liners and bake for about 20-25 mins

Cinnamon cream cheese frosting:

1 pkg cream cheese
2 ounces/4 tbls butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. honey
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup confectioner sugar

Just beat everything in the mixer. Refrigerate.
You can make the frosting a day in advance.
Decorate the cupcakes with some toasted almonds and dusting of powdered sugar.

*Recipe can be used for a loaf or bundt cake