French Almond Tart Cupcakes for Donsumor’s “Dessert a Day" National Dessert Month

I decided to participate in Donsuemor’s “Dessert a Day" after receiving an email regarding this product and National Dessert Month in October. I was given several choices of Donsuemor's Products and I chose the French Almond Cake. The task was to create some kind of dessert with these little French Almond Cakes. First I have to say these little cakes are delicious. They come in the shape of little tarts with a nice almond flavor. So what to do with them? Of course I had to use them with my cupcakes and finally made my decision. I would make a vanilla cupcake with almond extract. Using a quality extract is important to me & I use Watkins All-Natural Pure Almond Extract. These extracts are free of artificial coloring and are my favorites. The tart would be sliced into 2 parts. The bottom would be about 1/3 of the tart and the rest would be used for the top.
The result was absolutely delicious. No need for icing or frosting. The bottom part fit perfectly into a cupcake liner, I then added the cupcake batter and placed the top of the tart on the batter. I was curious to see what happened with the tart. It came out perfectly. The bottom of the cupcake was slightly more dense with the addition of the almond cake bottom and the top which has sliced almonds looked and tasted wonderful.
I would definitely use this recipe again. Anyone who loves the taste of almonds will love this.

Start out with your favorite vanilla cupcake recipe. I use Magnolia's Vanilla. I've tried many vanilla cupcake recipes and I keep going back to this one. Just substitute the almond for the vanilla extract. Don't forget my recommendation about the extract. It is not worh your time to use artificial extracts.

You will need

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour (I use Presto)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon almond extract
12 Donsuemor’s French Almond Cakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 2 (1/2 cup-12 capacity) muffin tins with cupcake papers.

Slice 12 Donsuemor’s French Almond Cakes (1/3 for the bottom, remaining cake for the top)

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.


In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and almond extract. With each addition, beat until mixed in but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.
Take the bottom portion of the Almond Cake and place in the bottom of each cupcake liner.
Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full.
Place the top of the almond cake on the batter

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes, then remove from the tins and cool


Additions for those who love chocolate - melt Baker's Chocolate (unsweetened) and drizzle over the top of each cupcake.

Rasberry Lovers - Split the top part of the almond cake and place a reasberry in between each half.

The possibilities are endless. Give it a try. Well worth it!