Blueberry Buttercream Cupcakes

A few weeks months ago my baby turned 2. As we were planning her birthday party I sat on the couch with her and flipped through recipes for cupcakes, trying to pick one or two to make. She climbed into my lap as I leafed from page to page, then suddenly jumped and squealed “BLUEBERRIES!”. If a girl could actually scream in all caps, this would have been one of those times. She loves blueberries. LOVES blueberries. As in we have to actually police the amount she eats of them because otherwise she will eat herself sick. (That was not a fun day.)
So, being that blueberries are basically her favorite thing everEverEVER I decided to make my faithful vanilla cupcake recipe, add blueberries, and concoct blueberry buttercream. The resulting cupcake was just what I was looking for. The vanilla cupcake was just light enough to let the sweet, tart blueberries really shine.

Blueberry Cupcakes with Blueberry Buttercream Frosting
yields 12 cupcakes
printable recipe
Blueberry Cupcakes
Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
zest of 1 medium lemon
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350. Prepare a muffin pan with liners and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating to combine between each addition. Mix in the lemon zest and vanilla.
In a medium bowl stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.
With the mix speed on low add half of the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Pour the milk into the bowl and beat to combine, then mix in the remaining flour.
Using a rubber spatula gently fold the blueberries into the batter, then scoop evenly between the muffin cups.
Bake for 17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Blueberry Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients:
1/4 cup blueberry puree (about 1 cup fresh blueberries)
2-3 Tablespoons blueberry juice, yielded from blueberry puree
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon lemon zest
pinch of salt
5-6 cups confectioners sugar

Directions:
In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter until smooth.
Add the blueberry puree, juice, vanilla, lemon and salt into the bowl and beat until well combined.
Slowly add the confectioners sugar, one cup at a time, until frosting is light and fluffy.
Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes.

Sources: Vanilla Cupcake recipe adapted from my Raspberry-filled Vanilla Bean Cupcakes, originally from The Novice Chef , Blueberry Buttercream from Baking With Basil