Sliding sideways. The perfect cupcake.

 I returned this week from one of the most enjoyable beach vacations I have ever taken. There are few entities more powerful and awe-inspiring than the Pacific Ocean on a stormy January morning -- or the friends you are fortunate enough to enjoy it with.  It was a weekend free from cellular phones, television, and distractions from our Monday-through-Friday grind lifestyles. Simply put, it was bliss. It was also a weekend of celebration, albeit a quiet reverie, of the 30th birthday of one of the most youthful and hip chicks I know. And since no birthday is complete without cake, I made these delightful little cupcake treats: amaretto cupcakes with Baily's butter cream and edible gold adorned toasted almond slices. The sparkles add an alien, daring deliciousness to the cupcake. They really do. Or maybe it was the Cafe Negro Porter I was drinking -- Caffeine + alcohol -- sliding sideways through the weekend.  

For 12 cupcakes you will need:
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter cool, but not cold
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
2tsp almond extract
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 cup milk

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Cream your butter and sugar in a medium sized mixing bowl until light yellow. Slowly add your eggs, almond, and vanilla and mix until fluffy. Add your flour and baking powder until fully incorporated then mix in your milk. This recipe is really hard to screw up. Just make sure your batter is smooth. Fill your cupcake papers about half way and bake about 10-15 min or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

There are quite a few different versions of butter cream. My favorite is Italian butter cream because it's by far the smoothest, it doesn't feel too much like you have a mouthful of butter, and it can be kept at room temperature. No salmonella! Any day I don't have food poisoning is a good day.

I used a recipe posted by Louise Dueholm on her awesome website: CakeJournal. Honestly, this recipe beats the one I learned in culinary school 10-1 and her step-by-step instructions should make it easy for you even if if this is your first attempt at making Italian meringue Butter cream. I flavored mine with just an ounce of irish cream. A little goes a long way.

My recommendation for you this weekend, even if you can't make it to the beach, is to make a dozen of these pretty little cakes, open a bottle of Cafe Negro Porter and slide sideways until the Monday monster comes to bring back the work-week grind.