Blackberry Cupcakes
Perfectly moist and fluffy blackberry cupcakes topped with the silkiest melt-in-your-mouth blackberry Swiss meringue buttercream!
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup milk
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup seedless blackberry preserves/jam
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ⅛ teaspoon almond extract
Blackberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- 1 ½ cup blackberries fresh or frozen
- 5 egg whites room temperature
- 1 ½ cup granulated sugar, divided
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cup 3 sticks unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- Blackberries for topping
Instructions
Make the Cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF, and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and sugar together until well blended. Add the milk, sour cream, oil, jam, egg, vanilla, and almond extract and stir until just combined.
- Pour batter into cupcake liners, filling 2/3 of the way. Bake in the oven for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the Buttercream:
- Place the blackberries and 1/4 cup of the sugar in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until juices release and berries have mostly broken down. Transfer berries to a food processor and purée. Pour berry juice through a fine-mesh sieve into another bowl, pushing as much juice out of the berry pulp as possible. Chill berry juice in the freezer to cool completely.
- In a heat-safe bowl, whisk the egg whites, the remaining 1 and 1/4 cup sugar, and salt together. Place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure that the bowl is not touching the water. Whisk until warm and sugar is dissolved, about 2-3 minutes. Mixture should feel completely smooth with no graininess when a bit is rubbed between two fingers. Remove from heat and chill in the freezer for 15-20 minutes, or until mixture is cool.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on high until fluffy and lightened in color. Add about half of the cooled syrup and beat for one minute. Add the last half and continue beating until mixture is thick, yet fluffy. With the mixer on low, add the blackberry juice*, vanilla, and almond extract, and beat until smooth and fully incorporated.**
- Frost or pipe buttercream onto cooled cupcakes. Top each cupcake with a fresh blackberry.
Notes
*Use as much or as little of the blackberry juice as you want. I ended up using 1/2 cup of the juice and had a little leftover.
**If you find that your frosting looks curdled, no need to panic! Simply remove a couple of tablespoons of the curdled mixture and place it into a small microwaveable bowl. Heat it in the microwave until it’s completely melted, then add it back into the mixing bowl. Turn the mixer on, and beat everything until it’s smooth. If it still looks curdled, just keep repeating this reheating technique a tablespoon at a time until the mixture comes together. Trust me, it eventually will!
**If the frosting looks soupy and runny, chill the bowl of frosting in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes. Take it out, then beat the mixture until smooth and satiny.