Blackberry Malt Cupcakes

Sometimes I am the victim of a sort of fresh fruit syndrome – I feel like I have to buy ALL the fresh fruit when it’s in season.  That’s not such a bad thing, except then I have to binge eat it before it spoils.  I recently found a local fresh fruit and vegetable store with incredibly good prices on produce but I have to limit my shopping there because I load up the cart with goodies and then, well, then there’s work to be done in the kitchen.

So I was pretty excited that Kailley’s Kitchen came up with this wonderful cupcake recipe using lots of fresh blackberries.  Now I can have my fresh fruit and eat a cupcake, too!

Blackberry Malt Cupcakes

Makes about 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups malted milk powder
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup sour cream (NOT low fat or fat free!)
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla extract (optional: plus seeds from one vanilla bean for extra vanilla-y flavor)
• 1 cup refined sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 8 ounces (1 brick) cream cheese, softened
• 2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoon malt powder
• *1/2 cup freeze dried blackberries
• 4 cups confectioner’s sugar
• Fresh blackberries and straws to top

*I found that using fresh blackberries in the buttercream caused it to be too liquid-y; freeze dried berries give you the same flavor without compromising the structural integrity of the buttercream!

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line muffin pan with cupcake liners
2. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and malted milk powder, set aside
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, sour cream, buttermilk, vanilla extract, and seeds of vanilla bean (if using) until well-blended
4. Add both sugars to wet ingredients and mix
5. Slowly add flour mixture to wet ingredients and stir until well
6. Fill liners 2/3 of the way full and bake for 19-21 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean
7. Remove cupcakes from pan and allow to cool on a wire rack
8. While cupcakes are cooling, cream together butter and cream cheese in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment
9. Pulverize freeze dried blackberries with a small food processor (or zip in a plastic bag and roll with rolling pin) until blackberries are powdery
10. Add blackberry powder, vanilla extract, and confectioner’s sugar to wet ingredients and mix until fully blended
11. Fill a piping bag with buttercream and pipe onto cooled cupcakes12. Top cupcakes with fresh blackberries (lightly sugared, if desired) and straws cut down to size