Blackberry’s are all the rage right now along with iphones. I on the other hand am still in the stone age from what I’m told because I only have a phone from Cricket. My daughter has an iphone with all the bells and whistles and was showing it to me the other day and bragging on it. I am pretty sure that that thing probably has an app on it that would find you a mail order bride. But hey, I’ve moved up in the world with my cricket. A mere three years ago, I still had a Tracfone…. with an antennae I had to pull up to be able use the phone. It was made from stone. I also have a car that requires me to stick my feet through a hole in the floor and make it go by foot power. Fred Flintstone is my hero. But I digress (you’ll get used to that with me.)
Since I can’t have a blackberry that I can use to access the internet, I decided to make my own blackberry. It’s not in the shape of a phone though; sorry. You also can’t use it to get a mail order bride but I can guarantee mine tastes better. At least I hope it does. There’s no app to make your phone yummy is there?
These cupcakes were fun to make. They were pretty fun to eat too if the purple stains on my shirt and the slight bloated feeling in my belly are any indication 😀 It uses a white cake mix that I doctored up (I told you; I like cake mixes. They’re easy & they taste pretty damn good; especially when you add all sorts of different things to them. This has a homemade blackberry/lemon butter cream frosting that is good enough to eat from the bowl with a spoon. I should know; I ate enough of it.
BlackBerry Cupcakes with a Blackberry/Lemon Buttercream
- 1(18.25 ounce) package white cake mix (I used Betty Crocker)
- 1(3.4 ounce) package french vanilla instant pudding mix
- 1 cup sour cream
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1 12 ounce container fresh blackberries
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons blackberry jam
- zest from one lemon
- Preheat your oven to 350 (175 Celsius) and line your cupcake pans with liners (you don’t have to do this, you could just spray them with a non stick spray like Pam but personally , anything that saves me from major dish washing is heaven.).
- Gently wash the berries then pat them dry with a paper towel. Put all but 20 of them into a blender or a food processor bowl with the 3 tablespoons sugar and process/blend into a puree. Set the 20 aside to use as garnish. You can then strain the puree through a sieve if the idea of the seeds bugs you, but I didn’t bother.
- In a large bowl, mix together ingredients. 1-6. Beat on low until everything is thoroughly mixed then turn it up to medium and beat for 2 minutes. Don’t skimp on that; it makes your cupcakes lighter.
- Fill your lined cups about half full with batter. Add a tablespoon of the blackberry puree on top of each cupcake then top that with another spoonful of batter. Don’t fill your cups over about 3/4 full or you’ll end up with cupcakes that spread onto the side of your pan and besides not looking as pretty, they are a pain to get out of the pan. Using a butter knife, gently swirl the jam and batter together, making sure to leave streaks.
- Bake for 16 to 22 minutes (It will vary depending on your oven. Mine were done at 20 minutes) or until a toothpick stuck in the middle of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Let them sit in the pan for about 1 minute then use a spoon to get under the liners & put them on a rack to finish coo0ling. Eat one of them before you frost the rest because you’re the cook and you can.
- Mix together the 1 cup butter, the remaining blackberry puree (you should have about 1/2 a cup)Â and the blackberry jam. Mix well for about 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar and beat on low until all the sugar is incorporated then turn it up to high and beat until it is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. It should be thick enough to stand up on your spoon w/out flopping over. If not (you may need more depending on how juicy your berries were), add powdered sugar 1/4 cup at time until it is thick enough to spread. If too thick, add heavy cream (or milk) a few drops at time until it thins out to where you want it.
- Pipe or spread your frosting on the cupcakes, then garnish with one of the reserved blackberries. Then eat one with frosting because again, you’re the cook.
- This makes 20 cupcakes or at least it did for me. It might have made 21 but some of the batter jumped in my mouth. What!? Salmonella is our friend.
I don't know what happened to this one. Someone *cough cough* must have gotten to it while I was turned away.
Tis ok, my phone can’t surf the web either, even though it’s supposed to. I have an unlocked phone and it can’t do squat on AT&T, other then phone calls and text messages, can’t even send or receive pics. AT&T tells me they make hardware changes to phones for their network so I’m up their creek without a fully functioning paddle.
On topic, I love blackberries, there’s a farm not too far from here where you can pick your own blackberries, blueberries and raspberries, all at a great price.
Hmm, guess I shouldn’t have spilled the berries on that secret
Bill- not like I can go buy out all the blackberries form under you. It would be a bit of a drive 😛
I ADORE blackberries!! When I was a kid, we picked wild blackberries out of our ditches and along the side of our driveway. Mom would send us out with a bucket to fill, but we ate them on the way home, arriving on the porch with a half-full bucket and hurting bellies!
Rhonda- me too. Blueberries are my favorite and I’m looking forward to trying some things with them, both sweet and savory but blackberries run a close second 🙂
These look fabulous! I love blackberries. Unfortunately, I’m the only one here who does; so I doubt I’ll be making these. Or maybe I will and bring them to my daughter’s dorm … I’m sure some of the boys will eat them. About how many does this recipe make?
Thanks Mary :-). I edited to add the amount. Sorry about that.
Mmm, fresh blackberries. I do wish I could still eat them.
They grow EVERYWHERE around here and we used to pick them as kids and my mom would make jam. I failed when I tried though, I ended up with several quarts of lumpy blackberry syrup. Tasted pretty damned good on ice cream and pancakes though.
Bel-
I agree on the blackberries on ice cream idea. I mean how can that go wrong? Fresh berries, cold creamy ice cream… yummy!
Blackberries are my favorite berry. When I was a kid my Mom would send me out to pick them because they grew wild like weeds in the pastures around our farm. I would spend hours picking them but come home with purple fingers and a huge purple circle around my mouth and only a few lonely blackberries in the till. “Did you eat all those berries, Gary Ray?” she would ask. “No Momma… I couldn’t find any!.” Uh huh. She didn’t believe me for a second.
I had the evidence all over my face and hands. Either I was lying about finding no berries or I had just robbed a bank and the ink exploded in the money bag.
Heh. Love the story Gary; thanks for sharing. I have a perfect mental picture of you as a little boy trying to pull the wool (or berry juice) over your mothers eyes.
Mmmmmmmm… Yummy AND easy…. my kind of recipe! Have you tried this with other berries?
Not yet Sharon. I’m looking forward to trying it with both Blueberries and Raspberries when they are a wee bit more in season here where I live. I have a feeling the raspberry one will be awesome. I also want to try some variations on the cake flavors too. Chocolate/Raspberry anyone?
Yeeeaaaa! I’m learning your tricks. Love, love, love the little tricks you share so my blackberry cupcakes may indeed look and taste a tad bit as good as yours. This blog is really cool!!
Thanks Marilyn :-). I love the feedback. That’s what I’m hoping this blog will do is help both the novice and experienced cooks. As for looking like mine, I’m sure you can do a hundred times better. 🙂
I’ll let you know if they’re any good LOL
And if they aren’t…. he’ll lie 😀
Nah, I’m brutal…
They were good even with the frosting on them. That’s impressive.
Coming from a man who hates frosting, I’ll take that as a compliment
Sweet Dude…
Yes; yes it was 😛
Yum! I love blackberries!
Me too! 😀
**DROOLS** (while picking seeds out of my teeth).
There were very few seeds thankyouverymuch :-p
😀