I spent some time while convalescing searching for cupcake recipes. I've got quite a stack and this one stood out above the others. I was interested to see how much the buttermilk brings to this recipe, if it's over powering or if it makes it uniquely interesting and tasty.

Buttermilk Cupcakes
From Razzle Dazzle Cupcakes

• 3 cups cake flour --(do NOT use self-rising)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 eggs
• 3/4 pound unsalted butter -- at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1 cup buttermilk

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 for dark pans).
• Sift together the dry ingredients into a medium-size mixing bowl, and set the bowl aside.
• Break the eggs into a small bowl, and set aside.
• In an electric mixer, cream the butter and the sugar until they are light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes.
• With the mixer running, carefully pour in the eggs and the vanilla and almond extracts.
• Mix in the flour mixture and the buttermilk by alternating between 1 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of buttermilk; be sure to start and end with the flour mixture.
• Line a cupcake tin with paper liners.
• Fill each cup with batter using an ice-cream scoop with a 1/4-cup capacity; the batter should nearly reach the top of the cups.
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
• Cool the cupcakes for 45 minutes on a baking rack.

About this recipe: I decided to half the batch which gave me 16 cupcakes so if you go for the whole batch, you will get lots of cupcakes. After a fairly routine blending of ingredients, I was left with a fluffy, light and flavorful batter. My only worry was it was too fluffy and light to hold together. I neatly filled my cups and got them in a 350 degree oven. They were done after about 22-23 minutes.

They rose, but not with nice muffin-like caps, but instead had flat tops. Not terrible but what I was worried about. Perhaps adding a 1/3 of a cup more of flour would help and I would definitely try it next time. A few of the centers also fell due to the same problem.

The result: don't let the flat tops dissuade you from trying this recipe! I think it would make an excellent sheet cake as well as cupcakes. The texture is lovely--a light spongy cake with a well balanced flavor. The almond is the dominant flavored but the vanilla comes through to compliment the creamy butteriness of this cake. You don't taste any tang from the buttermilk but I have no doubt its influence helped balance out the sweetness. They were so good that I didn't even send them to work with my roomie or bring any to my coworkers. I've been enjoying a cupcake with my tea each morning. As the cake ages it's dried out quite a bit but it's still very good. It reminds me of a yellow sponge cake from a bakery.