In almost every alley way and neglected piece of property in the City of Seattle there are wild blackberries lurking. I always wind up stopping on my daily walks and nibbling a few from the higher branches and I can never believe how incredibly sweet a “real” blackberry is. (Um, you know, one not grown in a hot house and purchased at the store).
I got my kids to help me pick near us and we chose the most beautiful of the blackberries for these cupcakes.
The cupcakes are simple vanilla cream and just the right mix of light and moist cake. The buttercream is flavored and lightly colored with the fresh sweet blackberries and combined with a big bite of the cake you have a heavenly combination!
I made these for a playdate that Pia had the other day and they were a huge hit. The girls took these and globbed on liberal amounts of sprinkles as well, but what more could I expect from 5 year olds?
To make these Blackberry and Cream Cupcakes, this is what you do:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a muffin tin with paper liners.
In the bowl of a standing mixer combine the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and combine really well. In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients and then add them to the batter and mix until creamy. Add the Cream and mix until well combined (it will be a thick batter). Scoop the batter into the prepared paper liners. Bake the cupcakes for about 15-17 minutes. (don’t over bake!)
Let the cupcakes cool while you make the Blackberry Buttercream Frosting:
In a large bowl whip together the soft butter and the powdered sugar together. Add the cream and mix well. At the end mix in the blackberries and continue to whip until the frosting is lightly colored violet by the blackberries.
Pipe or spread the frosting onto the tops of the cupcakes. Top each one with a ripe blackberry.
Recipe: Blackberry and Cream Cupcakes
Ingredients
- Vanilla Cream Cupcakes
- ½ cup butter, at room temperature
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 ½ cups flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1/3 cup cream
- Blackberry Buttercream Frosting
- ½ cup butter, at room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons cream
- 4 blackberries
- 12 ripe blackberries for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven t0 350 degrees. Prepare a muffin tin with paper liners.
- In the bowl of a standing mixer combine the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and combine really well.
- In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients and then add them to the batter and mix until creamy. Add the Cream and mix until well combined (it will be a thick batter).
- Scoop the batter into the prepared paper liners. Bake the cupcakes for about 15-17 minutes. (don’t over bake!)
- Let the cupcakes cool while you make the Blackberry Buttercream Frosting:
- In a large bowl whip together the soft butter and the powdered sugar together. Add the cream and mix well. At the end mix in the blackberries and continue to whip until the frosting is lightly colored violet by the blackberries.
- Pipe or spread the frosting onto the tops of the cupcakes. Top each one with a ripe blackberry.
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Cooking time: 17 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 12
Aww so pretty! Love these Heather!
What piping tip did you use on this, i love them!!!
Oh shoot- I don’t even know! I have the pampered chef piping tube. It was a pretty basic star?
These are so pretty! Perfect for the last few weeks of summer!
Heather, these look all kinds of amazing!!
Lovely, but how much flavor can you get from 4 blackberries? I would substitute 1 TB of cream for blackberry juice, but then I like intense flavors, and I am not sure that 1 TB would result in a sufficient jolt of blackberry flavor.
I was trying to not water down the frosting, and you would be surprised how a few fresh blackberries do their job! But that is a very good idea to ommit the cream and just add more berries
I miss real fresh blackberries- haven’t had the sweet ones in 30 years! Grocery store ones DO NOT count! Hard to believe I can still remember their taste, thanks for the memory!
Gorgeous cupcakes! Do you have suggestions for back to school lunches? It seems to be a big problem these days for moms; serious stress out.
Vicki- I am forever stressed out about back to school stuff!! I will start thinking now about what I have to do in 2 weeks!
Just lovely!
These are such beautiful cupcakes Heather! We love blackberries over here!
gorgeous cupcakes! love the frosting and how beautifully they’re decorated! blackberries make such good desserts 🙂
Gorge. As per usual.
So pretty, I love blackberries and cream!
these are gorgeous!! and I want to come try a fresh blueberry in Seattle!
I love that your workout routine is one part walking and one part “foraging” for berries!
Who needs food coloring and sprinkles when you have beautiful blackberries
Such a pretty cupcake, love the combination of flavors and the liner,cute.
Mmmm….now I need to go blackberry picking! These, as usual, are gorgeous Heather!
These were great and so simple to make. I put a handful of blackberries into the icing just because I had so many.
I was wondering where the 1/3 cup of cream comes in? I’m not sure if its a misprint but in the ingredient list, before the frosting, it says “1/3 cup of cream”. But it doesn’t say to put it in the mix. I put the 3 tbsp of cream in the icing, as directed.
Is it a typo?
Oh!!! Let me go check the directions Emily- it is supposed to go in the batter!! I am so happy that they tasted good even if the cream didn’t go in- the cream just makes the cupcakes extra moist! Thank you for pointing this out.
Hi Heather, Pleasure to find your blog and to know about this recipe. It’s Creamy, yummy and delicious. Love to eat. Thank you for sharing.
they look yummy and so pretty!
I’ve featured this recipe on my blog, hoping that you don’t mind, but if you do, please contact me and I’ll remove it. All the best.
Looks gorgeous recipe. What kind of cream is used here?
Hala- whipping cream or heavy cream will work well here.
I’m having trouble with the frosting. I added the 3 cups of powdered sugar, but with the 1/2 cup butter and 2 tablespoons of cream, my frosting is pretty much just powder. Is the 3 cups powder right? Maybe I accidentally added more.
I just added 1 more tablespoon of the cream and it worked perfectly. I think I added to much sugar by mistake. This is an awesome recipe!!