Summer and Lemon cupcakes with Blackberry Filling

Happy Labour Day Long Weekend!

Well yesterday was September 2nd and I had an end of the summer celebration with my friends. We hadn't seen each other through the entire break! Everyone is busy doing their own thing and sometimes finding time to hang out just doesn't happen! But I wanted to reunite with the girls before school starts on Tuesday... *shivers*. I'm not looking forward to it! Actually.. that's not true. I have a pretty good year regarding classes. Especially considering band is going to New York in May! I'm so excited for that! Anyways! I knew I wanted to bake something! The perfect party food? Cake! But I wanted to use these cute Wilton Princess Cupcake liners... I love the toppers! I also knew I needed to make cupcakes that celebrated the season and we refreshing. I recently found the BIGGEST blackberry bush up the street, so I have been picking berries like mad. Blackberry filling! Perfect. I thought lemon would make a good combo in the cake. Its really more of a vanilla cake, so there isn't too much tartness with just a hint of lemony flavour. Whipped cream frosting just because its light. Everyone loved them! I thought they were much more appropriate than say a chocolate cupcake or peanut butter, just because those are more heavy flavours. I hope you can squeeze in making these cupcakes before summer runs out, because they are going out of season soon!

Stay tuned tomorrow for Blackberry Cream Cheese Coffee cake, our labour day dessert.



Lemon Cupcakes with Blackberry filling and Whipped Cream Frosting
Makes 12 cupcakes

Lemon Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt (of course I omit salt)

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest of one large lemon (You can use the lemon in the filling)
1/4 cup milk (I used skim)

Preparation

Pre-heat oven 350•F and line 12 cup muffin tin with liners

In a medium sized bowl, whisk the flour, sugar and salt if using. Set aside.

In your electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 20 seconds after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.

Add half of the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Add half the milk and mix. Add half of the remaining flour and combine. Add remaining milk and mix. Add the last of the flour and mix until just combined.

Scoop the batter in the muffin tins and bake for 8 minutes. Rotate the pans and bake for another 8 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then completely on a wired rack.



Blackberry Filling
Makes about 1 1/2 cups-2 cups. We used the rest on French Toast this morning.

2 cups fresh blackberries
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons cornstarch

In a bowl toss the berries and sugar together. Let sit for at least 30 minutes, I did an hour. This lets all the berries juices be released.

In a food processor or blender, puree the berries until smooth. I used my Magic bullet... nice and quick. Pour the mixture through a sieve to remove and seeds. You should end up with about a cup of blackberry juice. I had more so don't worry about measuring.

In a small bowl mix the lemon juice and cornstarch to make a smooth paste, no lumps.

In a small sauce pan combine the blackberry juice and lemon mixture. Cook over medium high heat until the sauce thickens and just begins to boil. Remove from heat and cool completely.



Whipped Cream Frosting
Makes 2 cups

1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon berry sugar or granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large liquid measure beat all the ingredients until quite thick, but not butter. Set in fridge until using.



Assemble the cupcakes.

Using a paring knife, cut a hole in each cupcake, going about half way through. Trim the cut piece so there is just the top. Fill the hole with blackberry filling and top with cut piece of cupcake. Pipe frosting on top and garnish with fresh blackberries and grainy sugar sprinkles. Voila! Enjoy!