Bottomless Pit

Lemon blueberry cupcakes

• By Sharon
• 15 July, 2011
• 2 Comments

I have lots of blueberries at home.

I have leftover cream cheese frosting from those double chocolate cupcakes. I need to practice my frosting piping skills.

I came across a lemon blueberry cupcake recipe last time while searching for cupcake “how to” and tips. I already printed the recipe – why not use it this time?

Lemon blueberry cupcakes

3/8 cup all-purpose flour (3/8 cup is between the 1/3 and 1/2 cup mark)
3/8 cup cake flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
¾ cup sugar
Zest of 1/2 a lemon
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup milk
2/3 cup fresh blueberries

Makes 12 small or 8 medium cupcakes (funny story below)

Lemon cream cheese frosting

Half package (4 oz) cream cheese
1 tbsp butter, room temperature
3/4 cup icing powder, sifted
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Zest of 1/2 a lemon

Frosts 12 small or 8 medium cupcakes

Sift and whisk together the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder and salt, and set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, sugar and lemon zest and beat together on low speed until pea sized clumps form (note that you will not get a fluffy mixture).

Beat in the egg, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Continue mixing on low speed while adding in the flour mixture and milk alternately, beating just until well incorporated. Use a spatula to gently fold the blueberries into the batter. Pour the batter into the cupcake liners about 3/4 of the way full and bake for 16 minutes at 350F. Turn off the oven and let them sit in there for an additional minute before taking them out. A toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean. Let the cupcakes cool before frosting.

To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter on low speed until well combined and smooth. Mix in the lemon juice and lemon zest. Gradually beat in the icing powder until fully incorporated. Frost the cooled cupcakes as desired.

Ok so what’s this funny story behind the 12 small or 8 medium cupcakes? The original recipe is for 16 cupcakes and to be honest, that’s a little weird when a muffin pan has 12 cups. So I cut down the recipe in half and somehow managed to forget that would only be enough batter for 8 cupcakes when time came to pour them into the paper liners. I usually like to pour a bit of batter into each liner at first to hold down the paper before filling them 3/4 of the way. I did this for all 12 cups and realized just how small these cupcakes were going to be – unfortunately that was too late Out of the oven came 12 small, or rather mini, cuppycakes The only good thing is what everyone already knows - nothing is cuter than something that is small!

Rather than using the perfect cupcake recipe that I happened to discover from last time’s double chocolate cupcakes, I decided to try out this new one. This cupcake base calls for half all purpose flour and half cake flour, whereas the other one was simply all purpose flour. I wanted to see if this was going to make a difference in the make up of this baked good. Last time they were really moist and soft. Could it get any better and if so, how? This was my first time working with cake flour and for those who have used it before, you know my first impression was that it’s quite clumpy. Sifting took some more effort and time, but I persisted. The batter was thicker and a bit more sticky. I had a feeling my cupcakes were going to be chewy and possibly quick to stiffen up.

I was wrong – the cupcakes didn’t turn out chewy or stiff. They were still soft, but not very soft and moist. This surprised me a little bit since cake flour is, by the name, meant for cakes..yet it didn’t make the cupcakes all that great. I don’t know what that is and I don’t think I overmixed the batter. If you know, please enlighten me!

Looks like I will stick to my lucky recipe that uses only all purpose flour (whoever made this flour to go with a name like that was a genius..)

On the flip side, I’m happy the flavour of both the lemon and blueberry was just right

Recipe was adapted from Annie’s Eats