Almond-Hazelnut Cupcakes with Faux-Bois Toppers

Name: Almond-Hazelnut Cupcakes with Faux-Bois Toppers
Yield: makes 16
Ingredients: 1/2 cup whole unblanched almonds, toasted (see page 323); 1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and skinned (see page 323); 3/4 cup all-purpose flour; 3/4 cup cake flour (not self-rising), sifted; 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature; 1/4 cup granulated sugar; 1/2 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar; 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract; 3/4 cup milk; 4 large egg whites; Dark Chocolate Frosting (page 302); Chocolate Faux-Bois Disks (page 279)

January 24, 2012

You might want to throw a woodland-themed celebration just to have an excuse to make cupcakes topped with chocolate faux-bois rounds. Faux bois, or imitation woodgrain, is a favorite Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia motif; it can be applied to chocolate using a wood-graining rocker, found at paint-supply stores (see Sources, page 342, for the tool and for acetate sheets). Made with ground almonds and hazelnuts and covered with dark chocolate frosting, the cupcakes are also worth serving on their own, without any other embellishments.

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