Vanilla and Almond Sprinkle Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

Last night I received a number of very persuasive messages from my sister asking me to bake a batch of surprise sprinkle cupcakes for her. I gave in and here they are. 

Ingredients for the cupcakes:

• 80g butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)
• 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder 
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3 egg whites
• 1/3 cup milk
• 4 tbsp sprinkles 

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 170 °C. 
2. On a medium-high speed, cream the butter and sugar properly using a paddle attachment. This may take a couple of minutes.
3. Add the vanilla and almond. 
4. In the meantime, sift and combine the flour, baking powder and salt into another bowl.
5. On a medium-low speed, add one tablespoon of the dry ingredients to the mixture.
6. Add one egg white.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 two more times (until all eggs are incorporated).
8. On a low speed, add the rest of the dry ingredients until properly combined. Be careful not to overmix. 
9. Add the milk.
10. Fold in the sprinkles by hand.
11. Fill up the cupcake liners.
12. Bake for just over 20 minutes.
13. Place on a cooling rack and begin to make your favourite buttercream frosting. (I eyeballed it using butter, icing sugar, vanilla and whole cream).

Notes:

* Even though its always tempting to frost cupcakes immediately, be sure to let yours cool down completely or the topping will slide right off.

** I used the Dr Oetker edible shimmer spray to give my cupcakes a light gold tint.

Do you like the effect? Let me know!

Remarks:

Makes 12 normal cupcakes, or 9 huge cupcakes.