Blueberry Cupcakes

A new year, time for some new education! I don’t think I’ve told you all, but I’m taking a beginner’s cake decorating class. Yay! That’s right, in a few short weeks I’ll know proper technique for loading and holding a piping bag so icing doesn’t explode out all over the place (yes it’s happened!), how to pipe figures, do borders, and create the *rose*. I’m super excited about all of these things now, but I’m sure I’ll quickly forget the proper technique and be back to making it up as I go along! But it will be nice to know that I knew it once!

If you’ve been following along here for any length of time, you might be thinking that I already know how to ice and decorate a cake. But here’s a secret–I don’t really know any technique, I’m just good at faking it! And anything that you’ve seen that looks too good to be true was probably done by Eileen. Because that girl’s got cake decorating in her blood and is a true natural with a piping bag.

When I signed up for cake decorating, I was excited about all of the things I was going to learn, and of course all of the cake accessories it would give me an excuse to buy! 52 piece cake decorating set–check! piping bags–check! offset spatulas–check! But class had an unexpected bonus waiting for me–weekly baking assignments for us to practice on! Yeah, maybe it was a little dense of me not to realize I would need to make the cakes that we would decorate–but I’m sticking with my reasoning that since we needed a practice board, we wouldn’t need actual cakes.

So our homework assignment from the first week’s class was to make a dozen cupcakes, which we would turn into a dozen lounging clowns the following week. The assignment conveniently coincided with our first cake consult for the lovely Eli, who is dreaming of a blueberry cake for her special day. Sounds like a great time to make blueberry cupcakes!

So on Wednesday night, Eileen and I showed up at class, cupcake courier in hand, ready to make some clowns. We had bought the heads for the clowns the week before, and I’ll admit, I was skeptical. I had no idea how that sort of creepy plastic clown head was going to transform my perfect little cupcakes into something cute.

But an hour or so into class, I knew I had been wrong to ever doubt our instructor. The woman is amazing and she really knows her cakes! She has all of these tips and tricks, can tell what’s wrong with your icing just by looking at it (in mine above the dots are from salt, and it’s way too thick!), and can ice a layer cake in 5 minutes! After a few minutes of her instruction, I was topping my cupcakes with my own adorable little clowns, and sneaking bites of wonderful blueberry cupcake in between!

Blueberries and Cream Cupcakes
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes

Since I’m learning to make everything oh-so-adorable in class, who better to use as my inspiration than Martha? Aside from the fact that we chose these cupcakes because of the blueberries, their ease of assembly was also a major vote in their favor. These cupcakes are super fast to put together, and have the delicate crumb of a cupcake with the sweetness of your favorite blueberry muffin. Although the recipe calls for everything to be room temperature, we were in a rush and used everything cold, and it all turned out okay in the end. I can’t wait to make them again to try out the whipped cream topping the cookbook recommends.

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ cups cake flour (not self rising), sifted
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1¾ cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1¼ cups milk, room temperature
• 2 cups fresh blueberries, plus more for garnish

Directions:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line standard or mini muffin tins with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, the baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on medium-high to cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla.

Reduce mixer speed to low. Add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each. Fold in the blueberries by hand.

Divide the batter evenly among the lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until pale golden, about 25 minutes.

Transfer the pans to wire racks to cool completely before removing the cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature in airtight containers.

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