This blackberry blueberry cupcake is naturally colored using freeze dried fruit.
Blueberries in baked goods often bring up images of blueberry muffins with exploding berries and goo everywhere. They may be tasty, but they aren’t necessarily the prettiest.
Here’s a blueberry cupcake that I can’t help by gawk at!
Blueberry Blackberry Cupcake
These cupcakes perfect for weddings, bridal shows, baby showers, birthdays- really any occasion.
Unlike the typical “cupcake,” these are not overly sweet. Rather, the cake compliments the tart cream cheese frosting very well. The cake is sturdy. Yet, also moist with a tight crumb.
Best of all, these blueberry blackberry cupcakes travel well!
There are many options for transporting cupcakes. These bakery cupcake boxes (with removable inserts) are my favorite for gift gifting. During the holidays, I like to use this reusable stackable cupcake carrier.
The power of freeze dried fruit!
The natural violet color in the frosting is achieved from using powdered freeze dried blueberries.
There is a wide variety of freeze dried fruits now available. From banana to pineapple and strawberry to raspberry, you can easily make rich vibrant colored frosting and batter without artificial food coloring.
Due to the popularity of these blueberry blackberry cupcakes, I’ve made a large cake version. This blueberry cake features layers of blueberry cake with blueberry cream cheese frosting.
Other special occasion cupcakes
Interested in other cupcakes or mini cakes for celebrations and events? You might enjoy these:
- Strawberry Cupcakes (with freeze dried strawberries)
- Funfetti Cupcakes
- Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
Blueberry Blackberry Cupcakes with Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Berry Cupcakes:
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour, (228 g)
- ½ Tablespoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 Tablespoon powdered freeze-dried blueberries*, (17 g)
- ½ cup unsalted butter, (113 g), softened, room temp
- 1 cup granulated sugar, (200 g)
- ½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest,, optional
- 2 large eggs, , room temperature
- ½ cup buttermilk, (113 g), room temp
- ½ cup fresh blueberries, (80 g), pureed and strained
- ½ cup fresh blackberries, (80 g), pureed and strained
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, or vanilla paste
Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, (113 g), room temp
- 4 oz brick-style cream cheese, (113 g), softened, room temp
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, , or vanilla paste
- 4 Tablespoon powdered freeze-dried blueberries, (17 g)
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, (230 g)
Instructions
Blackberry-Blueberry Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line standard muffin with paper wrappers or reusable silicone cups.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and powdered blueberries. Set aside.
- Cream butter, granulated sugar, and optional lemon zest in a stand mixer with paddle attachment. Add eggs one at a time and mix until fully incorporated.
- In a measuring cup, combine buttermilk, blueberry and blackberry puree, and vanilla.
- Alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk mixture into creamed butter. Mix until just incorporated.
- Divide batter among 12 cupcakes. Bake for 20-24 minutes until cake is done and a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cool in tin for a couple of minutes before unmolding and let cool completely on wire rack. Let cool to room temperature before frosting.
Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and cream cheese until smooth.
- Add vanilla, blueberry powder, and confectioner’s sugar. Mix until smooth.
- Transfer frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe over cooled cupcakes.
Notes
- Milk: Any milk including non-dairy milks such as almond milk, soy milk, or oat milk may be used.
- Berries: Use either fresh or thawed frozen strawberries to make puree. Highly recommend using fresh berries for best results.
- Cream Cheese: Use brick-style cream cheese. Full-fat cream cheese has the best texture and flavor for frosting. Reduced fat or low fat cream cheese has extra moisture that will affect the consistency of the frosting.
- For longer storage, frosted cupcakes can be keep in the fridge for up to 4 days. Allow chilled cupcakes and frosting to sit at room temperature before eating (about 15-20 minutes).
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
Note: The mini blossoms and daisy cutouts are made from a 50/50 blend of homemade fondant and gum paste. The center is a sugar pearl.
I love these cupcakes! They are to cute!!! I made them for my birthday ball. Although I used a lemon cake mix for the cake, I didn’t have time, or room in the kitchen to make cupcakes from scratch. But I used the frosting recipe, and decorated them similar. I could not find the freeze dried blue berries at a reasonable price (I had a tight budget and 75 cupcakes were adding up) so I used just dried blueberries, and pureed them until they were smooth. It worked great! I didn’t get the greatest pictures, but here is one of me and my friends putting the icing on at the last minute, in 90 degree weather, it was melting a little, but considering the heat, they held up well.http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d34/Tobias13/2012-09-30_16-19-43_553_zps3d9af85c.jpg
Happy belated birthday! Glad you tried out the recipe. Freeze dried fruits can be quite pricey but a little does go along way.
Just made these and they were described by my father as “Better than steak!”, which never happens.Definite 10/10. I had to work hard though; I don’t own a balance so I had to sort of guess around the berry measurements. If anyone else finds themselves in this predicament, I have some advice:freeze dried blueberries were NOT easy to find at my local Target (had to fish the blueberries out of a mixed berries bag), definitely buy them from WF or TJs to save time. 17 grams of dried blueberries is about a 1/3 dry cup. 7.5 g of flour is a dry cup minus 2 Tbsp. 3oz buttermilk is just over the 1/3 cup line, and if you fail at straining the blue/black berry puree as I did, throwing a big hand full of each into a blender and just dealing with the seeds doesn’t affect the texture too much. Out of curiosity though, how does one strain the thick mucus that is berry puree?
I’m sorry to hear you had a difficult time finding the freeze dried berries. Did you use fresh blue/blackberries for the puree? I just a regular fine mesh strainer for the puree and it worked fine. You could also use cheesecloth and squeeze out the puree.
I used fresh berries, but the puree was too thick to fit through my strainer. They were still the best cupcakes of my life, with the seeds and all. Thankyou!
This is just a wonderful colour combo, I love the mini blossoms with the dark, rich blackberries!!!
Thank you, Ronja! :)
Thanks for posting this. I am getting married next May and want a cupcake wedding cake; however, the one I wanted was so elaborate and quite costly. I thought I would make my own but didn’t know what sort of decorations to do. It’s a wedding in the country and I think these would be beautiful, especially since my colors are blush pink and wisteria!!
One question: I see you have piped the frosting, so I assume the recipe will be sturdy enough to hold up? Or should I add a little more confectioner’s sugar? Not sure how many cupcakes your recipe yields, but I need approximately 50 and was wondering if you might know how to increase this to yield this many? Thanks for your help! :)
Congrats! That’s so exciting! The recipe makes one dozen cupcakes. Yes, the frosting should be firm enough. If not, you can add more confectioners’ sugar, but it might make the frosting a bit too sweet. You can multiply the original recipe by 5 to get 60 cupcakes. That will allow you to have a little extra for snacking. :)
Are freeze dried blueberries easy to find?
I found freeze dried fruits at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods Markets, and surprisingly at Target.
These look so beautiful! I really need to learn how to make my cupcake looks this pretty. Will it have the same beautiful color if you use fresh fruit? Budget Earth – Ultra Yummy Baked Acorn Squash Recipe
Thanks, Susan! Unfortunately, you won’t get the same vibrant color with fresh fruit. Also, the moisture from fresh blueberries will affect the texture and consistency of the cream cheese frosting.
WOW those look super yummy and you made me want some lol!I may have to try these one day!~Blessings!
I hope you do make them!
I can never get my cream cheese frosting to pipe so well. Your swilrs look lovely.
Try whipping the cream cheese frosting until its quite smooth and fluffy. Also, make sure your cream cheese and butter are at room temperature before creaming them together.
Love it and want to try them! I was trying to covert 7 1/2 oz. in cups and 17 grams…can you help? : )
Goodness, this is the perfect cupcake, hands down!