The season of entertaining is upon us. I’ve partnered up with Sauza® Tequila to bring you a new cupcake recipe and some inspiring ideas for a fabulous Holiday Girls’ Night!
The holiday season is well underway. This is the craziest, busiest and most wonderful time of the year! Whether you’re an entertaining newbie or a seasoned pro, the role of hostess can be a stressful assignment. But entertaining doesn’t have to be hard. You just need a plan to make it all happen! So grab your girlfriends and celebrate the season with a fabulous girls’ night in. We’re keeping it elegant and effortless with light angel food cupcakes and a glass of Sparkling Margarita. It’s a refreshing change to the same old, same old holiday party. Let’s start with the cupcakes and move on from there! Priorities, right? Planning the cake always comes first!
Angel food cake is one of my all time favorites. It’s light and sweet and totally unexpected around the holidays. So I thought cupcake sized portions would be a great addition to a girls’ night in. It’s a refreshing change to the heavy desserts we often enjoy during the month of December. And definitely pairs nicely with a bubbly glass of wild berry Sparkling Margarita.
The greatest thing about these cupcakes? They look impressive but they could not be easier to make. We’re taking a classic angel food cake recipe and adding a small touch of lemon zest to brighten the flavors. Then topping with a sweetened whipped cream and fresh raspberries, creating a little airy delight. The only thing hard about these cupcakes… is eating just one.
Snow Angel Cupcakes
Snow Angel Cupcakes – light angel food cupcakes with lemon zest topped with whipped cream and fresh raspberries.
- Yield: 24+ cupcakes
- Category: ✽ ✽ ✽
Ingredients
For the Angel Food Cupcakes
- 2 cups granulated sugar, divided
- 1 ⅓ cups sifted cake flour
- 12 egg whites, at room temperature
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
- zest of one organic lemon
When Ready To Serve
- 16 ounces heavy whipping cream, very cold
- 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
- Fresh Raspberries
- Confectioners’ Sugar
Instructions
Make the Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a food processor, pulse sugar until it is superfine. Roughly two minutes on low.
- Combine ½ cup sugar with cake flour and sift together four times. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer filled with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites, salt and cream of tarter until medium firm peaks.
- Sprinkle remaining 1 ½ cups sugar over egg whites with mixer running. Mix until thick and shiny.
- Add lemon zest. Mix several additional minutes until very thick. Remove bowl from stand mixer. Scrape down whisk attachment, removing all egg whites and zest.
- Sprinkle ¼ of flour mixture into bowl and gently fold into egg whites using a clean rubber spatula. Repeat until all flour has been added.
- Spoon batter into a muffin tin lined with cupcake wrappers. Fill each wrapper almost to the very top. Smooth top.
- Bake 17 – 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes and then remove from muffin tin to cool completely.
When Ready To Serve:
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk chilled heavy cream and 4 tablespoons sugar until you have soft peaks.
- When ready to serve, spoon a dollop of whipped cream on top of each cupcake. Top with a fresh raspberry and a sprinkle of confectioners sugar, if desired.
Notes
- To make whipped cream topping in advance, use mousse powder, gelatin, cream cheese or another stabilizer to prevent the cream from deflating.
Now that we have the cupcakes covered, let’s talk about the rest of our Holiday Girls’ Night In! I love the idea of offering a selection of mini desserts and cookies for guests to nibble while sipping a glass of Sparkling Margarita. Small bites like cookies and cake pops let the girls sample a little bit of everything without the heaviness of a big dessert. Here’s a few ideas to get you started.
- When decorating, go for a simple color palette of red and white. This updated twist on the traditional holiday colors has such a fresh look.
- Linzer cookies are a classic treat that work nicely with our color scheme. Two almond flavored cookies are sandwiched together with a layer of jam. Get the recipe to make them HERE.
- Cake pops get festive with a hint of peppermint and a striped stick. Make your own or cheat and order some HERE.
- Serve up Sauza® Sparkling Margarita with festive garnishes like cranberries, raspberries or rosemary.
- Of course, we’ll include our Snow Angel Cupcakes!
- Pull out your extra cake stands and top with ornaments for a quick and easy centerpiece. Done!
If you’re ready to get the party started, you can find more Girls’ Night inspiration on my Pinterest board HERE.
Cupcake recipe and photography by Carrie Sellman for The Cake Blog.
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What a nice touch… here in Venezuela we have a traditional cake called “tres leches” made with that cake mix but we let the cake rest In a mix of 3 kinds of milk(condensed,evaporated and whole milk). so the cake can absorve all the humidity and flavor of it. If you want you can add a little touch of rum so it changes the cake completely. next we add a topping of swiss or italian meringue. It’s so simple and yummy
Do you know if these bake well as mini cupcakes?
Honestly, Angel Food is so light and airy to start out with that the standard size cupcake portion left me wanting more. Maybe that’s because I liked them so much! So I haven’t tried them as a mini. But if you do, definitely come back and let us know how they turned out!
These cupcakes look gorgeous!
Can I cut the recipe in half?
These cupcakes look amazing 🙂
Do you have a suggestion for the use of the 12 yolks?
Just use egg whites from egg beaters. That’s what I did and they still turned out beautiful and tasty!
These ARE miniature cupcakes.. Otherwise, where in the world would you find raspberries the size of golf balls…?
They are regular sized cupcakes. It was just a nice package of raspberries from the grocery store.
Where did you get the adorable cupcake wrappers? 🙂
Oh lovely! I’m always looking for healthier, lower calorie desserts. I love Angel Food & love making it. I’m not sure why I didn’t think to try them as cupcakes.
This is an awesome and easy to make recipe. Will be making this one later today 🙂
Great Idea!!!
I love this cupcakes!!And the pictures are great!!!:)
I received my first KitchenAid mixer for Christmas from my mother and searched for my first recipe and have to admit your recipe caught my eye. I was excited to try this out and some time later success!
Finally had an opportunity to make these for my husband’s birthday. They turned out fantastic; he loved them (& so did I). Thanks much for sharing this recipe!
Hi! I’m excited to try these this weekend!
Just wondering how long the cupcakes will keep for? I need to make them ahead of time and worried about a soggy mess. Can I make the cupcakes a day ahead of time (and make whipped cream the day of?)
Once topped with whipped cream how long can they stay out of the fridge?
Thanks!!!
You could certainly bake the cupcakes a day ahead. You’ll want to store them in an airtight container to keep them moist. But I wouldn’t top them with the whipped cream until you’re ready to serve.
Alternatively, you could make a stabilized whipped cream if you want to prep them further in advance. Here’s some options for making a stabilized whipped cream: https://www.wikihow.com/Stabilize-Whipped-Cream
Where did you get the cupcake liners that are shown in the photo?
I believe they came from Michael’s but it’s been three years, so I’m not 100% sure.
Oh boy. I baked these for 20 minutes and they totally burned. I should have checked them sooner I guess. So frustrated with myself because they are supposed to be for a friends birthday.
Would it possible to freeze the batter I have leftover?
I will bake angel cupcake. You’re a very creative person.
I have made these a couple of times now and everyone loves them. I did make them as minis for Christmas. They didn’t brown up as nice as the full sized cupcakes. Baked for 11 minutes because I didnt want them drying out. They we fully cooked and still good just didnt have the beautiful golden brown on top.
Like one of the other posters noted I have always used the pasturized egg whites in a carton. I have never had a problem using but I did notice on the container that it says they arent good to use for meringues or angle food. I think because this recipe calls for cream of tartar it isnt a problem.