Blackberry Vanilla Cupcakes

As soon as I saw a picture of these cupcakes on Annie's blog a few weeks ago I knew that I would have to try them. I'm not usually a fruit dessert person but for some reason this combination sounded really good to me, plus the recipe calls for the berries to be pureed so there was no risk of me biting into a big chunk of fruit.

I really enjoyed these cupcakes. The flavor was excellent and they were really moist. However, when I first took them out of the oven I was worried because the color was sort of a non-appealing gray and the tops just looked funny (I'm pretty sure I over-mixed the batter). Then came the icing.... That started out as a major disaster. My plan was to use my star tip but the icing was so incredible runny that it just ran all over the side of the cupcake. After adding a LOT more confectioners it was better but in the end I just ran a spatula over the tops and swirled them because they were looking sad and droopy. So beware, these are not the right cupcakes for a star tip swirl on the top. Despite all of that these were a big hit and I would definitely consider making them again.

I doubled this recipe but below I am posting the original recipe. I also added the beans, from the vanilla pod used to make my vanilla sugar, to the batter. Other than that I made the recipe exactly as stated.



Blackberry Vanilla Cupcakes
(Source: Annie's Eats)
Yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup vanilla sugar*
Beans scraped from 1 vanilla pod
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup blackberry puree (fresh or frozen blackberries, pureed in a food processor or blender and strained through a fine mesh sieve)

*If you do not have vanilla sugar, you can substitute an equal amount of regular sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla extract, added to the batter after the eggs.

For the frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted (I doubled the recipe but in the end I used closer to 8 cups of powdered sugar!!)
5 tbsp. blackberry puree

For garnish:
Fresh blackberries (optional)

Directions:
To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners. In a small mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl between additions. (This is when I added the vanilla beans)

In another bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the milk and blackberry puree. Add half of the dry ingredients to the bowl of the mixer and mix on low speed until just combined. Mix in the blackberry puree/milk mixture. Mix in the remaining dry ingredients on low speed just until incorporated. Do not over-mix.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared paper liners. Bake 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 10-15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar and blackberry puree in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until smooth and well blended. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired and garnish with fresh blackberries (optional).