These brown butter almond cupcakes are topped with a light, fluffy brown butter frosting and toasted almonds! These cupcakes are super simple but full of toasty, nutty flavor!
You might also like these cherry almond cupcakes or these almond biscotti!
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Ingredient Notes
You only need a few simple ingredients to make these brown butter almond cupcakes!
Cake Flour - I always use cake flour in my cupcakes because it makes them super soft and tender, but all purpose flour also works great!
Almond Flour - I love substituting a portion of the flour for almond flour in all my baked goods! It helps keep the cupcakes super moist and tender! It also adds extra almond flavor to the cupcakes.
Almond Extract - I just love how the almond extract pairs with the nutty flavor of the brown butter!
Toasted Almonds - I like to garnish the cupcakes with sliced toasted almonds but that's optional.
Brown Butter - My favorite ingredient of all time is brown butter!! Brown butter is just unsalted butter that has been melted and gently cooked to bring out a toasty, nutty flavor. If you've never made brown butter before, you can check out this post with all my tips for how to make brown butter!
I recommend making the brown butter the night before you make the almond cupcakes, so that it has time to fully cool to room temperature!
Since both the cupcakes and the buttercream call for brown butter, I find it easier to just make one large batch and then weigh out the difference using a kitchen scale (½ cup of butter weighs about 113 grams).
However, if you don't have a scale you can just make two separate batches of brown butter!
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
How to Make Almond Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 12 cup cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
Whisk the flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the brown butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smooth. Then whisk in the eggs, vanilla, and almond extract until fully combined.
Stir in about half of the flour mixture. Then stir in the milk and the rest of the flour mixture and mix until fully combined.
Pour about ¼ cup of batter into each cupcake liner (they should be about halfway full).
Bake at 350°F for 18-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
Frost the cooled almond cupcakes and then garnish with toasted almonds if desired.
Tips for the Best Baked Goods
Use room temperature ingredients! Always make sure ingredients like butter, eggs, milk, yogurt, etc. are at room temperature before baking (unless the recipe indicates otherwise)! This ensures they'll incorporate into the batter more easily and leads to overall better texture. Remove all ingredients from the fridge 30 minutes to an hour before baking for best results.
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, dense baked goods. [Measure cocoa powder the same way!]
Use an oven thermometer! Just because your oven says it's 350, doesn't mean it is! If you oven hasn't been calibrated recently, it can be as much as 30 degrees off, which will negatively affect all baked goods from cakes to macarons! An oven thermometer is the easiest/cheapest way to ensure your oven is always at the proper temperature.
Make sure you baking powder is fresh! Baking powder is important for helping baked goods rise properly, but it has a relatively short shelf life once opened, so it's one of the few items I never buy in bulk! To test if your baking powder is still fresh, add a small amount to boiling water. If it bubbles it's still good to use, but if not it's time to toss it!
Cupcake Decorating Tips
Make sure you let the almond cupcakes cool completely before frosting!!
For these big beautiful brown butter frosting swirls on these almond cupcakes, I use the 1M tip from this decorating kit. The tips are much larger than standard sizes and so fun for decorating cupcakes!
After frosting, garnish with crushed toasted almonds if desired!
Recipe FAQ's
These cupcakes will last in the fridge for up to 3 days. However, they taste best when served at room temperature! I like to let them sit at room temperature for about an hour before serving.
Of course not! You can absolutely substitute regular unsalted butter. I just love the flavor that brown butter adds to the almond cupcakes.
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Brown Butter Almond Cupcakes
Special Equipment
Ingredients
Almond Cupcakes
- ½ cup unsalted brown butter, room temperature
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons almond extract
- 1 ¼ cups cake flour, substitute all purpose flour
- ½ cup almond flour, substitute all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup whole milk
Brown Butter Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted brown butter, room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch kosher salt
- 2-3 tablespoons heavy cream, as needed
- sliced almonds, for garnish
Instructions
Almond Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 12 cup cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
- Whisk the flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the brown butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smooth. Then whisk in the eggs, vanilla, and almond extract until fully combined.
- Stir in about half of the flour mixture. Then stir in the milk and the rest of the flour mixture and mix until fully combined.
- Pour about ¼ cup of batter into each cupcake liner (they should be about halfway full).
- Bake at 350°F for 18-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack.
- Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
Brown Butter Frosting
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the room temperature brown butter and powdered sugar until smooth.
- Add in the almond extract, vanilla, and salt and beat the frosting on high for 4-5 minutes until lightly and fluffy.
- If needed, add in cream 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.
- Frost the cooled cupcakes and then garnish with toasted almonds if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Courteney says
Excited to make these! Can you make the batter and refrigerate it the night before or do you not recommend that.
Kyleigh Sage says
I don't recommend that because it can negatively affecting the leavening/rise for a number of reasons. But the batter comes together pretty quickly so I'd just make it day of. You can definitely prep the brown butter the night before though.
Courteney says
Thank you for the feedback! These cupcakes turned out to be amazing!
Britney says
Loved this recipe! I used 1.5 cups of barley flour instead of all purpose, and plain kefir instead of the milk! The cupcakes came out so crispy on the edges and they were absolutely delicious!
Angelina says
Hi, I am excited to make this recipe. I was wondering, for the brown butter, when using it at room temperature for both the frosting and batter, should it be liquid or a soft solid like regular butter is at room temp? Thank you
Kyleigh Sage says
Soft solid like regular butter for the frosting! For the cupcake batter, either will work!