Who is ready for the holidays? I’m almost there. The dinner menu is set—dessert will be these Vanilla Almond Cupcakes you see here. They are so fun and festive, right?

The gold cups easily dress up any cupcakes, and those glittered antlers make the perfect holiday statement. But beyond being eye-catching, the cupcakes are just sweet enough for dessert but not overwhelming after a big holiday meal.

In fact, they are one of my more pared down cupcakes in terms of visual finishes. But the flavor—the flavor—I added almond paste to the vanilla cupcake base. I love it, when small and simple tweaks can transform a classic. I may never make regular vanilla cupcakes again.



Speaking of transforming classics, I partnered with KitchenAid to test out their new

KitchenAid® Artisan® Mini Stand Mixer. I’m excited to share that this new smaller but mighty version is awesome. The 3.5 quart bowl easily turned out this 18-20 cupcake recipe and can readily handle 5 dozen cookies. Best part of the Artisan mini it’s 25% smaller, 20% lighter, just as powerful and fits all the attachments of the bigger Artisan.

Now that you are in the know about the mighty awesomeness of the Artisan® Mini Stand mixer, head over to my Instagram where I am hosting a giveaway for this very mixer!

**This post is in collaboration with KitchenAid. They kindly provided a product for this recipe. All thoughts and opinions are my own.