Cupcake a Week: Lemon Blueberry

Which do you prefer...lemons or blueberries? Well no need to pick, you can enjoy both of these fruit flavors in my latest cupcake creation! Typically I am not much of a fruit fan when it comes to cake flavors. Given the choice I would pick a chocolate cupcake any day over some froo froo fruity flavor. But with summer just around the corner I thought I would change things up a bit and incorporate some fresh and local fruits in my batch of cupcakes for this week.

This past weekend Randolph and I stopped by Betty's Berry Farm in Wilmer, AL on our trip home from the lake. Picking berries is something that Randolph introduced me to back in our college days at Clemson. I still remember my first trip to the Happy Berry Farm in South Carolina and coming home with cartons full of fresh blueberries and blackberries that I made into cobblers and muffins or just simply ate by the handfuls.

For weeks we have been talking about going to pick berries so finally we paid a visit to our first berry farm in Alabama. This is the sign we were welcomed with...I think they were trying to scare us off with a pen full for roosters. Luckily we weren't frightened and proceeded on to row after row of blueberry trees.

Don't these berries look gorgeous!

We even brought our dog Tillman along. Let's just say Black Lab + almost 100 degree temps = tongue hanging down to the ground and incessant panting.

More berries!

All in a days work...heading home from the farm.

I think we hit the blueberry jackpot! We came away with 6.2 lbs of plump, bright blueberries! The whole ride home I was thinking about all the great recipes I could make...blueberry muffins, blueberry pancakes, blueberry cobbler and of course some blueberry cupcakes!

So let's move on to the good stuff: Blueberries + Lemons + Cupcakes = HEAVEN! I am pretty sure these might be one of my new favorite cupcake flavors!

I used both lemon juice and lemon zest in the cupcake batter and the frosting!

Plus 1 cup of blueberries in the batter!

Rather than fold the blueberries into the batter, I decided to place 4 berries on top of each spoonful of batter.

It's all about presentation, I wanted the berries to still be visible in the cupcakes once they were baked. I didn't want to overwhelm the batter with too many berries and resemble the idea of a muffin. Instead the lemon was the star flavor in these cupcakes and the berries offered a fresh burst of color and a little texture with every bite.

I made a lemon cream cheese frosting to go on top and then garnished with a single blueberry!

I love the simple look of these cupcakes . But don't be fooled by the simplicity, these are full of sophisticated flavors of lemon and vanilla bean. For those of you that aren't so much a lemon fan (I didn't think I was until I tasted this cupcake), the taste of lemon isn't overwhelming in these cupcakes but rather a subtle and pleasant burst of flavor. So if you are looking for a cupcake with a lighter flavor that is super moist and fluffy you have got to try this recipe!

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes (makes 30 cupcakes)

Ingredients:
-1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
-1 1/2 cups cake flour
-2 cups sugar
-2 sticks butter, room temperature
-1/2 tsp salt
-2 tsp baking powder
-5 eggs, divided
-1 cup sour cream
-1 Tbsp lemon zest (1 lemon)
-2 Tbsp lemon juice (1 lemon)
-2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
-1 cup blueberries, plus more for garnish

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
• In medium bowl combine flours, salt, baking powder and lemon zest.
• In bowl of electric mixer beat butter and sugar on medium speed until creamy.
• Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Add lemon juice and vanilla bean paste and mix well.
• Gradually add in flour mixture and beat until combined.
• Add in sour cream and mix.
• In a small bowl beat egg whites on medium speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold egg whites into cupcake batter.
• Spoon batter evenly into prepared pans about half full.
• Add 4 blueberries on top of each scoop of batter in cupcake liners.
• Bake for 18-22 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
• Allow to cool on wire racks for 30 minutes.
  
• Frost with Lemon Cream Cheese icing. Garnish with a blueberry on top.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
-1 stick butter, room temperature
-4 oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese
-1 Tbsp lemon zest (1 lemon)
-1 Tbsp lemon juice (half lemon)
- 3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

• In bowl of electric mixer beat butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy.
• Gradually add confectioners' sugar and continue to mix.
• Add lemon juice and lemon zest and mix until combined.

So head out to the berry farm, pick some berries and whip up a batch of these super yummy cupcakes!

Enjoy!