blue is the new black: check out my blue velvet (blueberry) cupcakes

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There is no doubting it, blue is the new black.

If you haven’t seen Avatar, well firstly, where have you been?! And secondly, and don’t lie now, but how many of us would trade in our pasty skins for the luminescent glow of the blue Navi’an skin tone, and with that a connection with our planet, the original blue planet? I know I would.

Not only has Avatar brought back the blue, I’ve also just bought it on blu-ray which has nothing to do with blue, but it’s still blu, so there’s something going on there. I re-watched it last week and I want to be Navi. I want to be tall, although even as a Navi, I’m sure I’d hit 5’3″ at best.

Anyway, Avatar is not the only blue extravaganza. Did you hear? Smurfs are hitting the big screen! You don’t understand, I absolutely adore Smurfs and as a child my parents bought me a Smurfs sheet set which was my favourite of all my sheets. What am I talking about? It’s still my favourite and my mum still dresses my bed in Smurfs when I go home :)

… and I can’t believe I just blogged all that out loud…

Where is my censorship executive?

Oh, it’s me. Hi.

Anyway, inspired by all things blue, I decided to bake myself some blue velvet cupcakes. Yes, yes I did. I didn’t come up with the marvellous concept myself though – whilst gallivanting around LA in January, I went to Milk with some awesome foodbloggers and there they had an adaptation of the already famous red velvet cupcakes.

The adaptation was blue. Red velvet is pretty much just cocoa drenched in red, what I loved about the blue velvet was that it actually had it’s own flavour ~ it was blueberry.

Huzzah!

Bored on a Saturday morning, I decided to bake my own blue velvet cupcakes. Mind you, I didn’t have a recipe to work from and so I decided to adapt my red velvet cupcake recipe. It worked. Mostly.

I wanted my cupcakes to be really blueberry-y. And yes that’s a word. So I used blended up blueberry mush as well as fresh blueberries in my batter. As a result the cupcakes turned out a little heavy. I mean, all that cooked fruit was going to do some damage but in my humble little opinion, I liked the natural flavour it gave to the cupcakes.

If you want fluffier cupcakes, maybe cut back on the blended blueberries, or not drop the extra 2-3 blueberries into each cupcake. In fact, if anyone experiments with this, can you please let me know?

Oh by the way, I shared my blue velvet love around and check out this gorgeous photo taken by Mowie. Seriously, the man is so amazing he makes me want to cry. *sniff*

Blue velvet (blueberry) cupcake
60grams unsalted butter (at room temperature)
150grams caster sugar
1 egg
100 grams fresh blueberries, blended
extra blueberries for cupcakes and decoration
10-20mL blue food colouring (obviously the more the blue-er)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
100mL buttermilk or natural yoghurt
150grams plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar

Cream Cheese Frosting:
300grams icing sugar, sifted
50grams unsalted butter (at room temperature)
125grams cream cheese, cold

a 12-hole cupcake tray, lined with cupcake cases
  1. Preheat oven to 170°C/325°F (Gas 3).
  2. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat on a medium speed with an electric whisk until light and fluffy and well mixed.
  3. Turn the mixer up to high speed, slowly add the egg and beat until everything is well incorporated.
  4. In a separate bowl, mix together blended blueberries, blue food colouring and vanilla extract.
  5. Add to the butter mixture and mix thoroughly until everything is combined and coloured (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula).
  6. Turn the mixer down to a slow speed and add half the buttermilk (or natural yoghurt). Beat until well mixed, then add half the flour and beat until everything is well incorporated. Repeat this process until all the buttermilk and flour have been added.
  7. Turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until you have a smooth even mixture.
  8. Turn the mixer down to low speed and add salt, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. Beat until well mixed, then turn up the speed again and beat for a couple more minutes.
  9. Spoon the mixture into the cases until 2/3 full. Drop in 2-3 blueberries per cupcake and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until sponge bounces back when touched. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave the cupcakes to slightly cool in the tray before removing to wire cooling rack to cool completely.
  10. When cupcakes are cool, spoon the cream cheese frosting on top.

Cream cheese frosting:

  1. Beat the icing sugar and butter together with an electric mixer. on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.
  2. Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed.
  3. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. Do not overbeat, as it can quickly become runny.
Makes 12-15 cupcakes
Posted in: Eating In, Foodie, Recipes

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