Taylor and I have been blessed to get some really thoughtful housewarming gifts since we moved into our new place here in Texas.
A tea towel with a carrot on it. A sturdy multi-purpose plastic table. Gifts cards for home improvement and entertainment.
One of the most recent gifts we got was from my mother-in-law. She gave us some of the best jam I’ve ever tried. Homemade nectarine amaretto jam. It seemed far too fancy and special just to spread it on toast, so I decided to make it star in this tasty almond flavored cupcake recipe.
After going back and forth about what kind of cake would go good with almond scented liquor, I took the safe road and just went with almond.
The results are so TASTY!
The cupcakes are light and airy, the frosting is sweet and tangy, and together there is just enough almond flavor to round out the sweetness.
When my husband went to take a bite, I warned him that it would be too sweet and directed him to the unfrosted leftovers in the fridge.
This frosting is delicious! But, if you don’t have much of a sweet tooth (like Taylor), then it will probably be too much for you. The extra liquid from the jam makes the buttercream require a little more powdered sugar than your average frosting if you want to pipe it. Of course, if you just wanted to spread the frosting in a thin layer on top, you could cut down the amount of sugar. It just won’t have much shape to it.
If you don’t have nectarine amaretto jam, you could just add a teaspoon of amaretto to regular jam. Also, I’m sure the recipe would taste just as good with apricot or peach preserves if you wanted try that.
Also, where has jam frosting been all of my life??
This recipe was adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
- CUPCAKES:
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 8 tbl butter, softened
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 large egg, plus two large egg yolks
- 1½ tsp almond extract
- FROSTING:
- 8 tbl butter, softened.
- 3¾ cup powdered sugar
- ⅔ cup nectarine amaretto jam (or use plain nectarine jam and add 1 tsp amaretto liquor)
- CUPCAKES:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.
- In the bowl of a stand-up mixer, add flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix with a regular whisk. (If you use the attachment flour will spray everywhere)
- Fit mixer with paddle attachment and add the rest of ingredients. Mix on medium speed until mixture fully combined and glossy, about 30 seconds. Be careful not to over mix.
- Spoon mixture into cupcake liners, filling ¾ of the way full. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until an inserted tooth pick comes out clean.
- Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer to wire rack to cool fully.
- FROSTING:
- Fit a stand-up mixer with the whisk attachment and add butter and ½ cup powdered sugar. Mix on lowest speed until combined. Continue adding the sugar in ½ cup increments until fully combined, waiting until the last addition is fully combined before adding the next. Stir mixture once by hand.
- Once sugar is fully incorporated, mix on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until mixture has nearly doubled in size and is fluffy.
- Add Jam and mix on medium speed for about another minute until the jam is fully incorporated and all the fruit chunks have broken up into small enough pieces to fit through whatever piping tip you want to use.
- Be sure to wait until cupcakes are fully cooled to pipe frosting.
71
0
0
0
0
0
Yum! Nectarine amaretto? That sounds DIVINE!!