Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes: an Easy Recipe and a Jam Disaster

Yum

Here from Pinterest looking for the Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes recipe? Scroll past this story and find the recipe about half way down. Or, read the story for a laugh.

This week has been full of baking. After posting about my Valentine’s Day Cake (see my recipe post here) I had some interest from friends in commissioning them for V-Day. I was cautiously optimistic about this.

The first two cakes went juuust fine. I stacked them, chilled them, decorated them, and sent them to their final destinations with no trouble at all. I even had fancy cake boxes and real cake boards. In my mind, I had already opened my brand new bakery, was besties with Christina Tosi, and was taking gigs to judge on the Food Network.

Saturday morning, I met up with my friends Abby and Katie for nail time. Katie was to be the recipient of the final cake, and I confidently announced that her cake would absolutely be the prettiest because of all the practice I had already had making the previous heart-shaped cakes. I arrogantly tossed my hair, strode into my kitchen with my new nails, and started baking. I had already planned out the cupcakes to come after and was barely concentrating.

Karma. She strikes.

It all started ok. But for some reason, this sponge rose a little higher than previous cakes. And then I decided to fill it a little more generously with homemade jam than usual. I noticed a small crack between the edges of the rounded portion and the square section. The next thing I knew, the cake was falling to pieces. Jam was leaking out the sides. Ganache was all over my hands, the counter, and the floor. The icing was too warm and was doing nothing to stick it all together. I had visions of ruining Katie’s Valentine’s Day and being banished to the bottom of her friendship list.. In a panic to chill the buttercream, I sprinted outside into the ten degree weather in my socks, knelt in the snow with the cake, a fresh cake board, and all of the components.

I dismantled the whole thing while sitting there and feeling the ice slowly seep through my leggings, removed all of the ganache and jam, re-stacked and refilled it, and re-covered the whole thing with buttercream, considerably humbled.

I hope the squirrels enjoy the pile of sweets I left in the snow. Thank goodness I can’t measure and had extra jam.

Anywho.

THIS recipe went very well.

These cupcakes are bright and sunny, characteristics I think we could all use right now.

The blueberry sponge is tender and moist, and they are filled with lemon curd, which is tart and luscious.

I love the tartness of lemon, and I think that lemon curd is a very satisfying thing to make. However, if that’s not your jam, this recipe is great for taking shortcuts. Some ideas:

1. Use store-bought lemon curd. That stuff is good. Or, shove some lemon zest into the sponge and omit it alltogether.
2. Use leftover frosting from another project. (This Italian Merengue Buttercream was left over from the Sweetheart Cake Incident.)
3. Store-bought frosting works just fine. No one would ever know.

This makes more than enough lemon curd, but definitely save the extra. Put it on pancakes, pop it in the freezer to fill another cake later, or eat it with a spoon while watching the Pacers. Your choice. You can also put the curd in cookies, like macarons! Check out my macaron recipe here.

Easy Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

For the cake:

• 150 grams cake flour (AP would be ok if that’s what you’ve got.)
• 1/2 T baking powder
• 175 grams unsalted butter
• 100 grams brown sugar
• 50 grams granulated sugar
• 1 t salt
• 1 T lemon extract (optional)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup blueberries

For the lemon curd:

• 1 whole egg
• 2 yolks
• 1 cup sugar
• zest of two lemons
• juice of 2 lemons
• 1 stick of unsalted butter
• pinch of salt

Make your lemon curd. Over a pan of simmering water, combine all of the ingredients except for the butter in a heatproof bowl. Whisk until combined. Add the butter. Whisk occasionally while it melts. Once it has melted in, whisk frequently until it thickens. It should take about 20 minutes. It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat, cover, and throw in the freezer for thirty minutes. It’ll get thicker. When you are ready to use it, pour it into a piping bag (or a ziplock bag) and cut a hole the size of the head of a nail.

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

Make your sponge. Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the lemon extract and the salt, mix. Pour in the milk, mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients in two batches, and mix until just combined.

Put the batter into a muffin tin lined with cupcake liners. Fill each cup about 2/3 full. You should have just enough batter. Put five or six blueberries in each cupcake, patting gently into the batter.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until they are golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out cleanly.

Cut out the center of each cooled cupcake using a sharp paring knife. Put your lemon curd in a piping bag and pipe into each cupcake, filling it to the top of the cake.

Frost the cupcake however you choose. You can use my Italian meringue buttercream found here. You can also use store bought buttercream or any other frosting of your choice!

Garnish with love and blueberries.