For all of you that clicked over to my post on Frosting for the Cause this week to read my story about my sweet sister Cheryl, THANK YOU!! Yep, your efforts are worthy of all caps with two exclamation points.  When I started Comfortably Domestic, I had no idea that I would meet some of the kindest, most supportive, and inspiring people on the planet. I am humbled that you guys come back to read my little blog day after day. I feel honored to call you friends.

And some of you, like Sara @ The Prudent Endeavor, read the post and jumped on our Merry Bandwagon by signing up to frost for the cause, as well.  Can I get a Woo-hoo! for Sara?! Woo-hoo!

THANK YOU Everyone!! (Again, with the caps and exclamation points.)

I promise that this is the last that you will hear about my blueberry cupcake recipe (this week.) I know all y’all have read it. You know that I hope you’ll try it.

BUT! What I didn’t mention is that you can adapt this recipe to make a strawberry cake by substituting fresh strawberries for the blueberries in the puree! OR use a cup of homemade jam and skip the puree all together.  You do not, however, need to frost the strawberry cupcakes with neon pink frosting. It’s what happens when red food coloring gets a little rebellious. ‘Just thought you should know.

♥♥♥♥

I developed this recipe in honor of my sister Cheryl–our little ray of sunshine. A girly girl who loved dresses, tulips, and blueberries.

 

Cheryl’s Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon-Tea Infused Frosting

For the blueberry cake, you’ll need: cake flour, fresh blueberries, granulated sugar, milk, eggs, salt, vanilla extract, and baking powder.  I find that using in-season blueberries gives plenty of blueberry flavor, and a nice, natural purple hue to the batter. If you prefer a brighter color, a few teaspoons of blueberry gelatin can be added for color. (I never add gelatin, but some may prefer more vibrantly colored fruity cakes.)

I wrestled for months trying to figure out a way to infuse an intensely blueberry flavor into the batter, which would result in a distinctly cake-like flavor, as opposed to a blueberry muffin.  In the end, my brother came up with the idea to make a blueberry sauce, much like you would make a cranberry sauce.  Genius! Kind of fitting that my brother was the one to solve my flavor dilemma, eh?

Make a blueberry sauce by combining the blueberries, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and a little water into a small saucepan.

Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Stir again.

Upon initial boil, the blueberries will begin to burst open, much like cranberries do when making cranberry sauce.

Allow the blueberry mixture to boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. The blueberry sauce will be a deep purple color, and most of the berries will have burst open.

Pour the hot blueberry sauce into a blender, and puree for 3 to 5 seconds.

Allow the blueberry puree to cool to room temperature before beginning to make the cake batter.

Once the blueberry puree has cooled, preheat the oven to 350° F.  Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until well incorporated between each addition. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Measure the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a fine mesh strainer set over a large sheet of waxed paper (or parchment paper.)

Sift the dry ingredients through the mesh strainer onto the waxed paper.

Add about a third of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, stirring until blended.

Gradually pour in half of the milk, mixing until fully incorporated. Then mix in another third of the flour mixture, then the rest of the milk, and finally, the last of the flour mixture until batter is well blended.

Pour one cup of the cooled blueberry puree into the batter, stirring until the puree is fully incorporated into the batter.

The blueberry cake batter is such a pretty shade of purple!

Pretty cake batter deserves to bake in pretty cupcake liners. I’m positive that my sister would have loved the pink plaid! She was very girly. Line 30 or so muffin cups with cupcake liners.

Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full with batter, being careful not to over-fill, or cake will rise over the liners and onto the pan during the baking process.

Bake cupcakes in the preheated 350º F oven for 18-20 minutes, or until cupcakes are set.  A toothpick in the centers should come out clean.  Cool cupcakes for 3 minutes in the pans before carefully transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting. I chose a lemon tea-infused cream cheese frosting for the cupcakes because tea has always been very calming to me.  Besides–lemons and blueberries were made for each other!  And this frosting? Makes these cupcakes! So stay with me here–this frosting is not as complicated as it sounds.

You’ll need powdered sugar, Celestial Seasonings Lemon Zinger tea, butter, vanilla extract, and cream cheese.  I used Celestial Seasonings Lemon Zinger tea because it has a very strong lemon flavor that I knew would shine through the cream cheese and powdered sugar.

Put the butter in a microwave safe bowl, and place it in the microwave. Heat the butter on 60% power for 50-60 seconds, or until butter is just melted. (This can also be done in a saucepan.)  Submerge 3 tea bags into the melted butter, and continue heating in the microwave for 5 minutes, on 20% power. Remove the bowl from the microwave and allow the tea to steep in the hot butter for 3 more minutes. (Or simmer in the saucepan over low heat for 5 minutes total.)

Squeeze the tea bags to wring out any butter that was absorbed.  Don’t be shy! We want all the flavor squeezed right out of those tea bags and into our butter.

The deep amber color reminiscent of sun spots is the tea infusion.  Taste a bit–it’s wonderful!

Allow the infused butter to cool to room temperature and re-solidify.

Blend the room temperature infused butter and cream cheese together in a large bowl.

Mix in the powdered sugar, one-half cup at a time, until smooth.

Add a dash of vanilla extract, and stir to combine.  (I used clear vanilla so that it wouldn’t tint the frosting a slight beige color.)  This frosting has a very soft consistency. If you prefer a stiffer consistency, add more powdered sugar one-half cup at a time, until the desired consistency is reached.

By now the cupcakes should be cool, and ready to frost!

I find that it is much faster to frost a bunch of cupcakes with a piping bag.  Scoop about a third of the frosting into a piping bag, fitted with the tip of your choice.   I was kind of going for a blueberries and cream feel for these cupcakes, I used an circular shaped open tip to give the frosting a soft and creamy look.

Pipe frosting onto the cooled cupcakes, refilling the piping bag as needed.  Now the cupcakes look dreamy all on their own, but since blueberries and cream was the theme, I thought I could do one better.

So I added a few blueberries to the top. Much better!

Thank you for letting me share the story of my sister here on Frosting for the Cause. I hope that these cupcakes make you smile.

Here are the printable recipes:

Cheryl’s Blueberry Cupcakes

http://comfortablydomestic.com

Makes 30 Standard Size Cupcakes

For Blueberry Puree:

1 pint (2 cups) fresh blueberries

¼ C. granulated sugar

4 Tbs. water

For Cake Batter:

½ C. unsalted butter, softened

1 C. granulated sugar

2 ¼ C. cake flour

1 ¼ tsp. salt

3 ½ tsp. baking powder

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 C. + 2 Tbs. milk

1 C. blueberry puree (see ingredients above, method below)

1 recipe for Lemon Zinger Tea-infused frosting

For the blueberry puree:

1. Place blueberries, sugar, and water into a small saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
2. Allow the mixture to continue to boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly to avoid scorching.
3. Pour hot blueberry sauce into a blender, and puree for 3-5 seconds. (It won’t take long.)
4. Refrigerate the puree for 30 minutes to cool.

For the cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. For cupcakes: line 30 muffin cups with paper liners. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
3. Stir in eggs, one at a time, until they have been well blended.
4. Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder over a large sheet of parchment (or waxed) paper.
5. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, mixing to incorporate.
6. Then, with the mixer running on low speed, slowly pour in ½ of the milk mixture, stirring until blended.  Scrape down sides of bowl, as needed.
7. Repeat the additions by adding another 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by the rest of the milk, and ending with the last 1/3 of the flour mixture, stirring well between each addition.
8. Pour the vanilla extract and cooled blueberry puree into the batter. (The puree must be completely cooled!) Mix on low speed until puree is fully blended into the batter.
9. Fill the prepared cupcake cups 2/3 full of cake batter using a large scoop.  For best results, use level scoopfuls of batter to avoid overflowing the wrappers when the cake rises during the baking process.
10. Bake cupcakes in the preheated 350 degree oven for 18-20 minutes, or until the cupcakes are set. A cake tester inserted in the centers should come out clean.
11. Cool for 2 minutes in the pan before removing cupcakes to a cooling rack to cool completely.
12. Frost cooled cupcakes with Lemon Tea-Infused Frosting, or your favorite Buttercream.