Cupcakes with a twist

My boys and I wanted to make some special cupcakes to celebrate the 4th of July. Normally, I would take the easy way out and grab a box mix. But, since I didn't have any eggs, I decided to try my hand using the egg white powder. To make the cupcakes really special, we divided the batter up after it was mixed, and added blue and red food colors. My 5 year old put the batter into the cups and we left it uneven. The results were so cool! The cakes were red, white, and blue. The batter did not bleed into the other colors or anything. And the frosting was perfect! I did pipe it onto the tops but did not cover it completely, but rather used a star tip and made a star. My 7 year old then sprinkled the entire thing with celebration sprinkles. Now - I was going to take a picture of these cute creations but I didn't realize my husband had put the pan into the oven and I turned it on. Let's just say they are not so pretty anymore. Still good, just not pretty!

3 cups all purpose flour
6 egg whites
1 cup butter softened
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the muffin tins or cups. Combine the butter, egg whites, sugar in mixer. Mix until light and fluffy. Add the baking powder, extracts, and milk. Mix on low until well incorporated. Add the flour slowly making sure it gets mixed. Scrape the bottom of the bowl occasionally.  Once mixed well, divide batter into three bowls and add the food coloring to the bowls. Make sure you add enough to get the color you want and mix well. Drop the batter by spoonfuls into the cups but don't mix it up. To even out the batter, you can drop the muffin tins on the counter after each addition of batter. It will get the air bubbles out as well which will result in denser cupcakes.  Bake for 13 minutes or until the cupcakes look lightly brown and firm to the touch.  Let cool for 10 minutes on a cooling rack. Make sure they are completely cool before you do the frosting!  You can use any frosting you want. I just used the basic powdered sugar with butter but I added almond extract which made it really good! Nice and smooth..