Almond and nutella cupcakes

Little birdie whispered  me that this week is National Cupcake Week in UK so what a better way to celebrate it then bake some gorgeous  cupcakes.

I made some delicious almond and nutella cupcakes, covered in marzipan that gives more flavor. They are not hard at all to make, but it will take you some time if you want to make them look special. I assure you that all the time invested in making these babies it's worth it.

I really wanted them to look very special so I used a technique I learned at a cupcake decorating course on how to make roses from gum paste .I hope you like the result. If you wanna learn how to make these cute roses you can find lots of tutorials on internet. They are not hard to make and the result is amazing.

And now the recipe. All almonds and marzipan fans, I'll wait for your impressions!

INGREDIENTS:

•  1¼ cups all-purpose flour
•  ⅓ cup  almond flakes
•  1½ tsp. baking powder
•  ¼ tsp. salt
•  ¾  cup sugar
•  ½ cup canola oil
•  2 large eggs
•  1½ tsp. almond extract
•  ⅓  cup milk
•  2 Tbsp.  maple syrup 
• nutella ( for decorating)
• marzipan (optional to cover cupcakes)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a muffin tin with paper liners.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flakes, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the sugar, oil, eggs and almond extract until smooth. 

Add in the flour mixture and the milk alternately, with three additions of the flour mixture and two of the milk.

Add in the maple syrup, being careful not to over-mix.

Fill the paper liners ⅔ full with the batter, and bake 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.

I made a few gum paste roses to decorate my cupcakes. You can find plenty of tutorials on internet. I also made little balls of marzipan and gum paste.

 For a simpler way to decorate your cupcakes, just cover them with nutella cream and then sprinkle some almond flakes.

 To decorate my cupcakes.
Using a glass with the exact diameter as my cupcakes, I cut round shapes and put them on top. Then I put the marzipan and gum paste decorations.

 Hope you like how my cupcakes came out in the end.

 Photos by EMI TRASNITU