Blackberry Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream Frosting

Oh summer, how I love thee! Why, do you ask? Because I love all the lovely fruits that are available for making yummy treats! Okay, okay, so I am a little giddy about all the fruits, but I just can’t help it.

For the last two weeks, I have gotten blackberries from a local farmer and been trying my hand at different recipes. I wanted to stay away from the pies and cobblers (nothing wrong with pies and cobblers, but I wanted to do something different), so I tried this wonderful recipe for Blackberry Lime Sorbet last week. My family loved it! I had to double the recipe just so we could have some to put into the freezer.

This week I got 2 more pints of blackberries, and thought I would try to bake something with it. My love for cupcakes had me looking for a blackberry cupcake recipe. I came across this recipe from Foodie Bride and just had to try it. The batter is a smooth white cake with the hint of blackberry flavor. Now the icing is a wonderful buttercream with blackberry puree! My only change to the original recipe is that I only used 4 cups of confectioner’s sugar instead of 5. 

Hope you enjoy this recipe! I would also recommend trying out the Blackberry and Lime Sorbet à it was delicious!

Blackberry Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

12-18oz of fresh blackberries (about 2-3 6oz packs)

1/3 cup milk, at room temperature

6 large egg whites, room temperature

2 tsp lemon juice

2 ¼ cup cake flour, sifted

1 ¾ cup sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

12 Tbsp unsalted butter (1.5 sticks), softened at room temperature

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare 2 muffin pans with liners.

Puree blackberries in a food processor or blender. Scrape into a fine mesh sieve set over a bowl. With a spoon, work the blackberries through the sieve, leaving seeds behind. Remove 1/4 cup of puree for the frosting. Your mileage may vary but you should have ~2/3 cup of blackberry puree leftover. 

In a small bowl, combine puree, milk, egg, lemon juice, and mix with fork until well blended. In bowl of stand mixer, add sifted flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix to combine. Continue beating at slow speed and add butter. Mix until combined and resembling moist crumbs.

Add liquids and beat at medium speed for about 1 minute or until full and evenly combined. Stop mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for 30 more seconds. Fill cupcake liners ~3/4 full.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center cupcake in each pan comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool in pans and then transfer to a covered plate.

Yields 24 cupcakes

Blackberry Buttercream Frosting

2 sticks butter unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 Tbsp meringue powder
pinch of salt
1/4 cup blackberry puree

Cream butter and extracts until smooth. Mix in confectioner’s sugar, meringue powder, and salt and beat 2-3 minutes on high. Add blackberry puree and beat for an additional minute. Adjust consistency, if desired, with additional confectioner's sugar or water.  

Adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride