Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Icing

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We drop fresh blueberries onto our lemon cupcakes before they go into the oven. The blueberries burst, releasing their juices and flooding the cupcakes with intense blueberry flavor. No fresh blueberries? It works with frozen ones, too. This recipe tops the cupcakes with our lemon cream cheese icing, but also try them with Lemon Meringue Buttercream. Either way, they are deeply delicious.

MAKES 24 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

2 cups (400g/15.5oz) granulated sugar

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

3½ cups (402g/14oz) cake flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

1 cup/2 sticks (226g/8oz) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces, at room temperature

3 egg whites (85g)

1½ cups (370g/13oz) buttermilk

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 cup (150g/5.7oz) fresh blueberries, rinsed and picked over for stems, plus more for garnish

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Lemon Cream Cheese Icing

  1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners.
  2. In a stand mixer with the paddle, combine the sugar and lemon zest. Mix for 1 minute on medium speed until fragrant. Add the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix on low speed for 1 minute.
  3. Add all the butter to the mixer and mix on low speed until the mixture resembles wet sand, 2 to 3 minutes.
  4. In a liquid measuring cup, whisk together the egg whites, buttermilk, and lemon juice.
  5. With the mixer on low speed, slowly pour in the egg white/buttermilk mixture. Mix for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom and mix again for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom again. Remove the bowl from the mixer.
  6. In a separate bowl, toss the blueberries in the all-purpose flour.
  7. Using a #20 scoop or a ¼-cup dry measuring cup, evenly scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Evenly distribute the flour-coated blueberries among the cupcakes. They will sink a little but that’s okay.
  8. Bake for 23 to 25 minutes, or until the cupcakes spring back when touched and a cake tester inserted in the centers comes out clean.
  9. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for 30 minutes. Transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.
  10. To decorate as in the photo, fit a piping bag with a Wilton #199 tip and fill with the icing. Squeeze the bag while twirling the cupcake and the piping bag at the same time, circling in a counterclockwise motion until about 1 inch high. Set a blueberry on top for garnish.