BERRIES & CREAM CUPCAKES

Berries and cream Cupcakes: a mixed berry buttercream with a vanilla cupcake filled with whipped cream and topped with strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. Lindsay Conchar has contributed a new cupcake recipe.

Berries are my favorite fruits. Strawberries, in particular. In college, I always looked forward to my husband’s (then-boyfriend) family visiting us on the coast in North Carolina every May. We knew the strawberries were ready to be picked because school was out for summer. We would go to the store, buy several cartons to eat, and bring them back to Charlotte to my family. These are some of the best strawberries!

We’ve never picked blueberries at the farms I’ve heard about in Georgia. It’s time to fix this! Freshly picked blueberries are just as tasty as strawberries.

The cupcakes are flavored with blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. My favorite triple-berry combination! I used freeze-dried berries to achieve the berry taste in the frosting without having it thinned out by a lot of berry puree. It worked perfectly! They are available at many grocery stores, including Target. It’s not necessary to use it a lot. It takes less than 1 oz to powder a cup of berries. I got about 1/4 cup of powder from the cup of berries, which was perfect for the frosting.

The vanilla cupcake on which the frosting is placed is moist, easy to make, and delicious. It’s so easy to make that you can skip the mixer. Don’t panic if the batter looks thin. The cakes are fluffy and moist when they bake.

The cupcake is filled with a delicious whipped cream filling. The filling is made by whipping some cream with almond extract. To add a bit more flavor, a small amount of cream cheese can be added to the cream while it is being whipped. This filling is so creamy and light it’s perfect for the cake.

It’s almost unfair how good this combination is. The soft, moist cake with the almond cream frosting and berries on top perfectly match. These cupcakes were shared with my regular taste testers, who declared them their new favorites. I must say that I agree. They’re great for summer!

Ingredients

For Vanilla Cupcakes,

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder

half a teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

One teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

One large egg

1/2 cup hot water

For the Berry Frosting

1 cup freeze-dried mixed berries

1 cup unsalted butter

4 cups confectioners’ Sugar

3-4 tablespoons water or milk

Salt pinch

Fresh berries for topping

For the Cream Filling

1 cup heavy cream whipping, cold

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

1/4 teaspoon almond essence

3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

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Instructions

Make the Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350degF. (176degC). Prepare a cupcake pan by lining it with paper liners.

Combine the flour, baking powder, Sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

Combine the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla extract in a medium-sized bowl.

Beat the dry ingredients until they are well combined.

Add the hot water to the batter, then mix at low speed until everything is well combined. Scrape the sides of your bowl to ensure everything is connected.

Fill the cupcake liners halfway and bake them for 15-17 minutes or until you see a few moist crumbs on a toothpick.

Remove the cupcakes and let them cool in the oven for two minutes. Then, transfer to a cooling rack.

How to make Berry Frosting

Add the freeze-dried berries to a food processor and grind them into powder. Set aside.

Mix the butter in a large bowl with a mixer until smooth.

Mix in about half the powdered Sugar.

Mix the milk or water with up to three tablespoons of salt until smooth.

Mix the remaining powdered Sugar with the powdered berries until smooth. As needed, add additional milk or water. Set aside.

How to make the cream filling

Add the heavy cream, powdered icing sugar, and almond extract into a large mixing bowl. Whip on high speed for a few minutes until soft peaks form.

Continue whipping the cream cheese until stiff peaks are formed.

Assemble your cupcakes

Remove the centers of the cupcakes using a knife or a cupcake corer. Fill the cupcake centers with cream filling.

Use a closed-star piping tip, like this one, to pipe the berry frosting onto the cupcakes.

Add fresh berries to the top of each cupcake. Refrigerate until serving.