Blackberry Cupcakes

These Blackberry Cupcakes are light and fluffy with blackberries in every bite and the most delicious blackberry buttercream. Fresh blackberries are added to the batter of the cupcakes and seedless blackberry jam is added to the frosting to pack them with all of the blackberry flavoring possible.

These Blackberry Cupcakes are really easy to make and look beautiful. The blackberry jam gives the frosting a really pretty purple color and piping the frosting with a decorative piping tip takes them to the next level.

And did I mention that I made these with the help of GIR's beautiful cupcake liners and tools?! They made the whole process so much more fun.

A FEW NOTES BEFORE WE GET STARTED

• Room Temperature Ingredients:
  • Butter: It’s important that the butter is softened. In a pinch, you can put your butter in the microwave for about 5 seconds on each side, but watch closely to make sure it is just softening and not melting.
  • Cream Cheese: The cream cheese needs to be softened as well. I recommend pulling this out to sit at room temperature at the very beginning.
  • Eggs: You also want to make sure that the eggs are at room temperature to ensure that they are properly incorporated into your batter. If you forget to leave them out before you start baking, place them in a bowl of warm water for about 15 minutes until they become room temperature.
• Measuring Your Ingredients: I strongly encourage that you use a kitchen scale to measure your ingredients and ensure that you have the most accurate measurements possible.
  • However, if you don’t have a scale on hand and will be using cup measurements, make sure to use the “spoon and sweep” method when measuring to avoid packing in too much of any dry ingredient.
• Oven Temperature: Make sure to preheat your oven for at least 15 minutes before you start baking.
  • I recommend purchasing an oven thermometer to get to know your oven so you can adjust your baking temperatures accordingly. Some ovens run slightly warmer or colder so its important to know yours to make sure your baked goods come out right.
• Check out My Favorite Baking Tools to see what I use when I bake.

Preheat oven to 350º F. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed until well combined.

Add the eggs one at a time with the mixer on medium speed and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add vanilla. Add the sour cream and mix until combined.

With the mixer on low, add in the flour mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and mix just until it is incorporated. Gently fold in the blackberries, being careful not to overmix.

Line a cupcake pan with 12 cupcake liners and carefully divide the batter evenly among them, filling each only about two thirds of the way.

Bake for 22-23 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan before gently pulling the cupcakes out of the pan to cool completely on a cooling rack.

Cream together the butter and cream cheese until smooth. With the mixer on low, slowly add in the confectioners sugar by the spoonful followed by the blackberry jam.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix just until combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill until ready to use.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, scoop the blackberry frosting into a pastry bag fitted with an Ateco 869 or similar piping tip.

Starting in the middle of the cupcake, begin to pipe the frosting in a clockwise motion, moving to the outer rim of the cupcake until you have covered the entire top in a beautiful swirl design. Repeat this with the remaining cupcakes. Top each cupcake with a blackberry. Enjoy!