Blackberry Vanilla Cupcakes

Have you ever seen such a beautiful thing?! These blackberry vanilla cupcakes are a soft, lightly sweet vanilla cake batter with a homemade buttercream that is infused with fresh, homemade blackberry juice. I don’t know about you, but the blackberry bushes around my house are overwhelmed with berries and we picked 3 freezer bags worth of berries in about 20 minutes the other evening. I love stocking up on berries for the winter, because who wants to spend an arm and a leg on berries in the off season! I also love using the berries while they are still fresh, plump and juicy, which is exactly what I did with this butter cream recipe! All it took to make this buttercream was adding the berries to a pot on the stove and heating them while mashing them up. I then put the warm berry blend through a strainer to get the juice and added that juice to my typical buttercream recipe, and voila! A sweet, fresh buttercream with a hearty berry twist, I know you’ll love these blackberry vanilla cupcakes!

Why I Love This Recipe

I really love these blackberry vanilla cupcakes because the recipe is a small batch of high quality cupcakes with a to die for buttercream.

The Recipe

For the Cupcakes

• 1 cup cake flour plus 2 tbsp
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste

The first step is to whisk together the dry ingredients; the flour, baking powder and salt and set this aside. Next, cube the butter and put in to a large glass cup with the milk. Stick this in the microwave for 30-40 seconds to melt the butter with the milk and set aside.

Add the eggs and white sugar to a large mixing bowl and mix on medium speed for about 3-5 minutes until the eggs and sugar give a whipped, aerated look. Next, gradually add the dry ingredient mixture to the aerated eggs and sugar. Add this gradually on medium speed mixing as you go to ensure it is well combined. Once the flour has been entirely added to the wet mixture, add the melted butter and milk! Pour the warmed milk and butter into the mixture, then add the oil and vanilla bean paste. Now that all ingredients have been added, give it one final mix and scrape down the sides to ensure it is all fully combined.

As I mentioned above, this is a smaller batch of cupcakes and yields 9 perfectly shaped desserts. Separate the cupcake batter across 9 lined cupcake tins and then bake for 16-18 minutes at 350 degrees.

For the Buttercream

• 1 cup fresh blackberries
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4.5 cups icing sugar

The first step to making the blackberry buttercream is to prepare the blackberries. Add your fresh, washed berries to a small pot on the stove along with the tablespoon of fresh lemon juice. Bring this up to medium heat stirring often and breaking apart the berries with a spoon as you stir. You are going to kind of want to mash these up in the pot as they heat to release the juice! Once the berries start to bubble remove from the stove and let them cool. Once slightly cooled, press through a fine mesh strainer to separate the juice from the berries. Set the juice aside!

For the buttercream, add the butter and icing sugar to a large mixing bowl on medium speed. This recipe is going to produce a bit more butter cream than you will need for 9 cupcakes, but I have a feeling you will find a good use for it!

After mixing the butter and icing sugar it will start to form a smooth, icing like texture, and then add 1/3 cup of your cooled blackberry juice directly in to the mixing bowl. This will thin out the butter cream and after mixing for a few more minutes you will reach that perfect final texture.

You will want to wait until the cupcakes have cooled completely before piping on the buttercream. I love putting the buttercream in to a large freezer ziploc bag, cutting the corner tip of the bag off and then piping the icing through that on to the cupcakes! I garnished the cupcakes with a fresh blackberry and a small blackberry leaf on top.

This recipe makes 9 cupcakes. The cupcakes will keep in the fridge for up to a week!

Print Pin

Blackberry Vanilla Cupcakes

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 18 minutes minutes

Servings 9 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

• 1 cup cake flour plus 2 tbsp
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste

For the buttercream

• 1 cup fresh blackberries
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
• 4.5 cups icing sugar

Instructions

• The first step is to whisk together the dry ingredients; the flour, baking powder and salt and set this aside. Next, cube the butter and put in to a large glass cup with the milk. Stick this in the microwave for 30-40 seconds to melt the butter with the milk and set aside.
• Add the eggs and white sugar to a large mixing bowl and mix on medium speed for about 3-5 minutes until the eggs and sugar give a whipped, aerated look. Next, gradually add the dry ingredient mixture to the aerated eggs and sugar. Add this gradually on medium speed mixing as you go to ensure it is well combined. Once the flour has been entirely added to the wet mixture, add the melted butter and milk! Pour the warmed milk and butter into the mixture, then add the oil and vanilla bean paste. Now that all ingredients have been added, give it one final mix and scrape down the sides to ensure it is all fully combined.
• As I mentioned above, this is a smaller batch of cupcakes and yields 9 perfectly shaped desserts. Separate the cupcake batter across 9 lined cupcake tins and then bake for 16-18 minutes at 350 degrees.

For the Buttercream

• The first step to making the blackberry buttercream is to prepare the blackberries. Add your fresh, washed berries to a small pot on the stove along with the tablespoon of fresh lemon juice. Bring this up to medium heat stirring often and breaking apart the berries with a spoon as you stir. You are going to kind of want to mash these up in the pot as they heat to release the juice! Once the berries start to bubble remove from the stove and let them cool. Once slightly cooled, press through a fine mesh strainer to separate the juice from the berries. Set the juice aside!
• For the buttercream, add the butter and icing sugar to a large mixing bowl on medium speed. This recipe is going to produce a bit more butter cream than you will need for 9 cupcakes, but I have a feeling you will find a good use for it! You can also cut the entire buttercream recipe in half if you are against leftovers.
• After mixing the butter and icing sugar it will start to form a smooth, icing like texture, and then add 1/3 cup of your cooled blackberry juice directly in to the mixing bowl. This will thin out the butter cream and after mixing for a few more minutes you will reach that perfect final texture.
• You will want to wait until the cupcakes have cooled completely before piping on the buttercream. I love putting the buttercream in to a large freezer ziploc bag, cutting the corner tip of the bag off and then piping the icing through that on to the cupcakes! I garnished the cupcakes with a fresh blackberry and a small blackberry leaf on top.
• This recipe makes 9 cupcakes. The cupcakes will keep in the fridge for up to a week!

I hope you love this recipe just as much as I do! If you do decide to give this recipe a try, please share it with me on Instagram so I can see what you come up with!