Lemon Blackberry Cupcakes

My mom and I went berry picking this week as we often do. After a few hours, we returned with a load of blackberries which are Ted’s favorites. With a bucket full of fresh blackberries, I began searching for a recipe worthy of my time. I didn’t quite find what I was looking for at first. But I did find a yummy recipe for Lemon cupcakes filled with preserves. So I did what I do and used it as a jumping off point. The batter is very light and fluffy. It has a rich lemon flavor. For the preserves, I used Smucker’s blackberry preserves and mixed in fresh blackberries for a fresher flavor. The cupcakes really turned out well. I was also pleased to try out a recipe with some type of filling. I had wanted to add filling after reading a Wilton article of cupcakes. But I was under the impression that you had to use a special tool to do so. Well apparently I was wrong. On discovering I was wrong, I found out that one of the best ways is simply to use a batter, filling, batter method which gives you more flavor.

Lemon Cupcakes with Blackberry Filling

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp.
2/3 cup sugar

2 large egg, lightly beaten

zest of two lemons

juice of two lemons (with 1 T held aside for the icing)

1/2 cup lemon flavored yogurt

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare muffin tins. Stir flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together. Set aside. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, beating until just blended. Then add in lemon zest and lemon juice. Add lemon yogurt. Beat in flour mixture until blended.

1/2 cup blackberry preserves

½ cup blackberries

For filling, fold the fresh blackberries into the preserves. Divide half the batter evenly among the tins. Place a scoop of blackberry preserves on top of the batter in the middle of each cup. Cover with the remaining batter. Bake for 18 minutes.

Lemon Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

milk
Fresh blackberries

Mix powdered sugar, lemon juice and 1 t milk. Add more milk as needed by 1 t amounts until icing consistency. After icing, allow cupcakes to sit until the icing has set. Garnish with fresh blackberries.