Cherry Vanilla Almond Cupcakes with Cherry Almond Buttercream!

Better home and garden would be PROUD! So yesterday T- and I were sitting in Borders and doing that thing that's making them go out of business -- reading in their store without buying anything. I just bought myself an iced tea latte and when a cupcake book caught my eye...

My good lord, there were elephant cupcakes, cupcakes with ingredients I would never have thought of (orange creamsicle cupcake?), and then...these pink, lovely beauties caught my eye. Cherry...tasty, Vanilla...perfection for summer...and Almond...delectable.

Ergo, today I made them...and man alive are they good! Like...abnormally good. Like, I was actually reluctant to share these with my neighbors kind of good. Like I was eating buttercream frosting out of the pipping bag kind of good. Well, shoot me, I have self-restraint. Whatevs.

Make them. NOW.

Well hello ladies.

Has anyone ever told you you're beautiful?

Or tasty goodness?

Cherry-Vanilla-Almond Cupcakes (modified from Better Home and Garden)

Cupcake:

0.5 cup butter

4 egg whites

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

0.5 tsp. baking soda

0.5 tsp salt

0.75 buttermilk (this is super important...it's what makes the cupcakes fluffy-like)

0.33 cup Maraschino Cherry Juice

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

0.5 tsp almond extract

Preheat oven to 350F

Let the butter and eggs come to room temperature so the mixture won't be so cold. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt.

Then cream together the butter, add in the sugar, then add in the vanilla and mix well. Add in an egg white at a time, beating well after each addition. 

In a separate bowl, mix together the buttermilk and maraschino cherry juice. 

Now add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in increments, mixing well after each addition. 

Bake for 15-18 minutes, stick a fork in 'em to make sure they're cooked. 

Meanwhile! Make the buttercream by taking:

0.5 cup room temp. butter

3.5 cups of powdered sugar

3 tblspn. maraschino cherry juice

0.5 tsp almond extract

Cream butter until its super soft. Then add in one cup of sugar, creaming it well. Add in the cherry juice and the almond extract and mix well. Then slowly add in the rest of the sugar. Make sure you're beating it really well because you want to get the butter-sugar mixture aerated so it gets fluffy. If you have an electric mixer...more power to you, make sure you're mixing it well. If you don't, well, it'll build your arm muscle!

Frost it with a 1M star tip, and add a maraschino cherry on top, and some pretty red sugar crystals and you're good to go.

Or well...no, take a glass of milk, put some ice cubes in it (since it's flipping 90 degrees here), get on your back porch with your stupid mutt whose trying to eat your cupcake and drink your milk at the same time, and take a big bite out of your work of art, and follow it up with a swig of milk. Now you're good to go ;-)