Keep Calm and Eat a Cupcake.

Happy last day of July! I'm going all domestic on you again today but for good reason, because these cupcakes taste like summer in the form of a cupcake. And before I start getting all pumpkin-flavored this or that on you, I thought I'd throw my other favorite flavor combination at you.

Generally when I'm in the mood for a challenging cupcake recipe, I find something where I can add alcohol. For example, I successfully made Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes (recipe here)  last year and not only were they fantastic, but I had fun making a cupcake with filling. That is how I came up with this cupcake (the filling part, not the alcohol part... sorry to disappoint). I might add that I've always had great success baking when I'm simultaneously drinking a glass of vino. Just sayin.'

It may look like a lot of steps, but it actually is very easy especially if you can get your hands on a stand mixer. You'll also see that you probably have about 90% of the ingredients already.

I did not take a whole lot of pictures during the cupcake-making process because you will see that part is pretty basic.

Recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction.

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter, softened to room temperature
  
• 1 cup granulated Sugar
  
• 2 large Eggs
  
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
  
• 1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 cup Milk
• Zest and Juice from two medium Lemons (I only used a little zest and the juice came out to about 1/4 cup)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with paper liners (You will probably end up with about 18 cupcakes) and set aside. 

2. Using a handheld or stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed in a large bowl until creamed. I let my stand mixer go on the 6 setting for about 2 minutes. Slow mixer and add your eggs and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed until combined, about 2 minutes.

3. In a medium-sized bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add this dry mix to the butter mixture. I used my mixer for this on the 4 speed. 

4. Add milk, lemon zest, and lemon juice to batter and mix until just combined. 

5. Pour batter into cupcake liners making sure they are about 3/4 full. (I use this to get the same amount in each, plus it makes cookies really easy too). Bake for 20 minutes until slightly golden brown around the edges. 

6. It is very important to place these on a rack and allow to cool completely before removing the center of the cupcake. 

7. While your cupcakes cool, start making your buttercream frosting. 

Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) Butter, softened to room temperature
  
• 3 1/2 cups Confectioners Sugar
• 1/4 cup Heavy Cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• Half package of Blueberries (see instructions below)

1. Beat softened butter on medium speed for about 3-4 minutes until very smooth and creamy. 

2. Slow mixer and add powdered sugar, heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt. Once it is mostly mixed in, turn mixer speed up a notch or two for about 3 minutes. You want the frosting you be very fluffy. 

Note: If your frosting is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If too thick, add more heavy cream. Too sweet, add more salt. 

3. Now, remove 3/4 of the frosting from your bowl and save for later. The remaining 1/4 will be used to make the blueberry filling. (If you don't do this, you will have to make a second batch of frosting like I did. Live and learn!)

4. Before we can add the blueberries to the buttercream frosting, we have to chop/grind them in a food processor. You can add all of the blueberries or just some, depending on how strong you want the flavor.

5. Then, add the blueberries to your frosting and mix until fully combined.

Look how pretty!

By now your cupcakes should be cool and you can start to remove the center. You can use a cupcake corer, like this one, or just take a 1/4 teaspoon measuring spoon and scoop out the center. 

You will have a bowl that looks like this....

These you can either discard or eat (no judgement here, guess what this fatty did...)

6. The easiest way to fill the cupcakes, and frost them for that matter, is to put a decorating tip into the end of a pastry bag (using a coupler) and then stand the bag up in a glass before filling it your icing. Its much less messy this way!

7. Fill cupcake centers with blueberry buttercream. Then, fill another pastry bag with your plain buttercream and frost the top of the cupcakes. (I like using the Wilton 2D decorating tip, but I seemed to have lost it during our move and had to use a smaller one this time around)

Top with a small blueberry or sprinkles, then chow down and/or pass them off to coworkers like I do so I don't eat them all! :)

Anyone else loving the lemon + blueberry combo this summer? There are a lot of recipes on Pinterest that I've been meaning to try! Anyway, happy hump day ya'll. We're halfway there! Tomorrow is August which means I'll be turning up the Autumn talk. Get excited.