Mixed Berry Cupcakes

Happy Memorial Day!

I've got a treat for you. These cupcakes are amaze balls! I finally managed to knock my socks off. I tried a different cake base for the cupcakes, and I think I'm done searching for the best basic cake recipe. This is it. I'm hanging my hat up, untacking my horse, and giving up the hunt. This is the best cake I've made, traditional or cupcake. The texture is perfect, fluffy and moist. They rose perfectly, and the integrity of the cake was strong enough to hold up to all my garnishes. I'm just so impressed with the results from this cake technique, which is once again from Sally's Baking Addiction. Like my favorite cookie base, this recipe starts with melted butter. Who knew?? Sally is a genius, that's all I can say.

Now that I've got this recipe under my hat, I'll be playing endlessly with it. Different flavor combinations, maybe add some chocolate, maybe make a traditional cake out of it...The possibilities are endless!

Let me tell you about these cupcakes though, since that is the point of today's post. I knew I wanted to make Mixed Berry Cupcakes, but I wasn't sure how I was going to go about it. My original idea was for a vanilla cake with chopped berried folded in. The more I thought about it, the more I thought a compote running through the cake would be more fluid. Plus, I've never tried folding fruit into a cupcake, I wasn't sure if it would make them too heavy. An experiment for another day. So I made a compote which I swirled through the vanilla batter. Definitely the way to go! For the frosting, I'd always had a Raspberry Buttercream in mind because I had half a jar of raspberry jam earmarked to be used up. I followed a recipe for Raspberry Buttercream, and found I had a light pink frosting that barely tasted like raspberries. 

So, what did I do?

I added a whole heck of a lot more raspberry jam, that's what I did! In the end, I ended up with frosting that tastes similar to raspberry sorbet. Any raspberry fans out there dislike raspberry sorbet? 

No one? Didn't think so :)

This is hand's down my new favorite frosting. Granted, I don't like frosting and this tastes more like ice cream... But yes, this frosting is the bomb.com!

I believe due to the amount of raspberry jam in the frosting, it turned out a bit soft. I'm personally ok with this, because I ended up storing the cupcakes in the fridge. The cold didn't ruin the integrity of the cupcakes at all; the cake held up nicely under the cold and the frosting hardened up. A small price to pay for this delicious frosting.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day! I know I will. I'm fresh off a "Girl's Day Out" yesterday, so I will be recouping today. The hubby and I are grilling chicken tonight and making spinach salads, and it's supposed to be sunny and in the eighties today. It's going to be the perfect relaxing day :)

Happy Monday!

Ingredients (makes 12 cupcakes):

Compote-

1 cup blueberries

1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries

1/3 cup  granulated sugar

Cake-

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup granulated sugar

2 egg whites

1/4 cup Greek yogurt, plain

3/4 cup almond milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

seeds scraped from 1/2 vanilla bean

Frosting-

1 cup butter, softened

4-5 cups powdered sugar

1 cup raspberry jam (you can use less!)

Garnish- 

halved strawberries, blueberries, mint leaves (all optional!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Line a cupcake pan with liners, set aside.

2. Make the compote- in a small saucepan, combine the blueberries, strawberries, and sugar. Heat over medium heat, stirring often. Cook for 10-15 minutes, or until the berries have broken down and the mixture is very thick. Set aside to cool slightly.

3. Make the cake- In a small bowl, combine the flour through baking soda. Stir to mix. Set aside. In a large microwave safe bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. When melted, add sugar. Stir until no lumps remain, mixture will be very gritty. Add the egg whites through the vanilla bean seeds, stir until no lumps remain. Add dry ingredients to wet, and mix until no lumps remain. Batter will be very thick.

4. Divide the vanilla batter among the cupcake pan. Take the compote and with a spoon, spoon a tablespoon of compote onto the vanilla batter. Take a toothpick and thoroughly swirl the batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or just until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting-----> This is necessary since the frosting is so soft. The cupcakes must be cool or the frosting will slide off. This is non-negotiable.

5. Make the frosting- In a large bowl, combine butter and powdered sugar. Beat with a hand mixer until combined, 1-2 minutes. Start by adding 1/3 cup of jam to the frosting. Beat until you reach your desired texture. Taste test. From here, you can either stop because you like your frosting, or continue to add jam until you reach your desired level of "raspberriness". Put frosting into a piping bag, and pipe onto the cupcakes. You could always use just a knife to frost too :)

6. Garnish cupcakes, if desired. Serve immediately! Store cupcakes in the fridge, up to 1 week.

Printable Recipe

Cake recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction. Frosting recipe adapted from Food.com. 

Linked to: Treasure Box Tuesdays, Weekend Potluck, Foodie Fridays, Feature Fridays