August tastes like ripe nectarines, fluffy almond cake and mounds of mint mascarpone whipped cream. # 356: Almond Nectarine Cupcakes

Rather than make a full layer cake, I whipped out my shrink ray gun and they became fruit-filled cupcakes. Voila!

There’s something so satisfying about an obnoxiously tall piped topping. The kind where you go to take a bite and get some of it on your nose but have no regrets. If you’re averse to wasting frosting as an accidental skincare product, you can rip the bottom of the cupcake off and plop it on top to make the tiniest layer cake with the frosting safely on the inside. Except maybe not with these, since you’d sprinkle chopped nectarines around like confetti!

I finally got to use some mint from my garden for something more than a garnish – yay!

I’m still making my way through my freezer stash of almond flour which is made from whole almonds. Its rustic whole-wheat vibe is definitely misleading, as I’m afraid there’s nothing healthy about these tiny cakes.

Triple nectarine whammy: minced nectarine in the batter, a hidden core of chopped nectarines in the middle and a nectarine syrup cake soak.

The yummiest almond sand.

I couldn’t find the method for this recipe, so all I had to work with was a list of ingredients and a sped-up highlights reel of Ruby Bhogal making this as a cake on Instagram. Felt a bit like my very own GBBO technical!

Sweet dreams, lil cupcakes.

While they nap in the oven, commence nectarine simple syrup time.

Gotta love it when the syrup matches the measuring cup!

The gentlest stabby stabs.

Cannoli forms coming to the rescue again! Making room for the sneaky nectarine filling.

Capping them off with little cake hats is definitely not necessary, but kind of cute don’t you think?

Awaiting their whipped cream clouds.

I added a bit of the nectarine simple syrup and some chopped mint to the topping for a little something extra.

Happy munching!

Recipe inspired by: Ruby Bhogal’s Instagram post from June 2022 “Almond Nectarine Cake”