Almond Cupcakes w/ Chocolate Mousse Frosting & Cherry "Bang" Cake

HI WORLD! Wow, it's been a while, huh?? I've been SO freakin busy! Between working at the bakery and working with my parents at the Isle of Wight County Fair, I totalled over 70 hours last week! Needless to say I didn't have the time or the energy to bake. But this week, when I actually got home early from work I finally made the cupcakes that won the poll forever ago... Welllll... I didn't actually make the flavor that won. I didn't know it until the cupcakes were already in the oven, but my mom threw away my raspberries when she cleaned out the refrigerator. So instead, I filled the almond cupcakes with ganache and topped them with chocolate mousse. Then with the leftover batter, I made an 8-inch round cake. I poked holes in it while it was still warm and topped it with triple cherry jam. I frosted it with almond buttercream, which was actually delicious (and I don't even like regular buttercream!). Because I'm nice, here's the recipe for the Almond Raspberry Cream Cupcakes that you voted for, plus some pictures. And I'll post the recipe for what I named "Cherry Bang Cake" at the end of this post as well!

Ingredients for the cupcakes AND my beautiful new "tangerine" colored mixer!
Almond cuppies cooling...
Making the Cherry "Bang" Cake!
So I made lemonade from lemons... well no I didn't... but you get my point. Right?

The cupcake recipe is from Favorite Brand Name: 100 Best Cupcake Recipes. I invented the Cherry "Bang" Cake, mostly because I was bored. And because I had some Lollipop Tree Triple Cherry Jam laying around.

MY NOTES: To make the chocolate ganache and mousse topping: Melt 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1/4 cup heavy cream in the microwave for 60 seconds. Stir until smooth. Cool to room temperature. Beat 2/3 cup cold heavy cream with a mixer on high speed until stiff. Fold half of the cooled ganache into the whipped cream. Fill the cupcakes with the rest of the ganache.

Almond Raspberry Cream Cupcakes
Makes 18 cupcakes

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups milk
Raspberry Cream (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 18 standard (2 1/2-inch) muffin cups with paper baking cups.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Beat granulated sugar, butter, almond extract and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed 4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately add flour mixture and milk, beating well after each addition (Eff that! Beat just until the flour is incorporate unless you want hockey pucks instead of cupcakes!). Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling three-fourths full.

Bake 20 to 22 minutes (Mine were done at 19 minutes) or until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in pans on wire racks 15 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire racks.
Prepare Raspberry Cream. Cut tops off cupcakes; spread with Raspberry Cream. Replace cupcake tops; sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Raspberry Cream: Beat 1 cup cold whipping cream and 1/4 cup powdered sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at high speed 5 minutes (It only takes about 2 minutes with my hand mixer) or until cream is thickened and almost stiff. Place 1 pint fresh raspberries in small bowl; mash lightly with fork. Gently fold raspberries into whipped cream mixture until well blended and evenly colored. Makes about 3 cups.

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 4
Frosting (Chocolate Mousse): 5

Cherry "Bang" Cake
1 (8-inch) round cake (You can bake the whole recipe above as 2 (8-inch) rounds, OR make 12 cupcakes plus 1 round like I did)
1/2 cup cherry jam
1-2 tablespoons hot water

Almond Buttercream
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon almond extract

Make 12 cupcakes and pour the rest of the batter into a greased 8" round pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. Remove pan from oven and cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan and place it on a serving dish. Poke holes in the warm cake with the end of a wooden spoon. Dilute 1/2 cup of cherry jam with 1 or 2 tablespoons of hot water. Spread over cake. Lift the cake plate up and bang it on the table a few times until most of the jam seeps into the holes. Cover tightly and refrigerate until cool. To make frosting, beat butter, sugar, and extract for 3 minutes on high speed until light and fluffy. (Makes enough to frost a 2-layer cake).

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 4
Frosting: 4 (I prefer it less sweet)