Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

My sweet husband turned 33 yesterday.  Happy Birthday to him!  In our home, birthdays mean you get to choose a birthday cake/cupcakes and a birthday dinner.  I've mentioned in previous posts my husband's love for lemon, well all citrus really.  When I found this recipe for lemon blueberry cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting, he had made his cake choice!

These cupcakes worked out perfectly, because I had blueberries from last week's blueberry patch trip to use up!  I also like that the recipe only yields 16 cupcakes, which means less for me to eat!  Cupcakes are a weakness of mine!  Who am I kidding?  Any kind of sweet is a weakness of mine!  While I know my husband will consume the majority of these cupcakes, I have no doubt that I will eat at least 25%, which I don't exactly NEED to be doing!

Overall, I think this recipe turned out great!  Very good lemony flavor!  The only thing I will say, and by no means is this negative, is that the cake was more like a small muffin to me rather than a cupcake. The icing was also on the thinner side for cupcake icing.  It was certainly not the consistency of a traditional buttercream, but was still tasty nonetheless.  Feel free to visit the link above for her printable recipe.  Below is the recipe I used to make these refreshing cupcakes.

INGREDIENTS:

Cake.....
3/4 c. plus 2 tbs. all purpose flour (divided)
3/4 c. cake flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
8 tbs. unsalted butter (room temperature)
3/4 c. plus 2 tbs. sugar
zest of one lemon
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbs. lemon juice
1/2 c. plus 2 tbs. milk
1 c. fresh blueberries

Icing...
8 oz. cream cheese (softened)
5 tbs. unsalted butter (softened)
3 c. powdered sugar
1 tbs. freshly squeezed lemon juice
zest of a lemon
blueberries for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners and spray with non stick spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together 3/4 c. flour, cake flour, baking powder, salt and set a side.  In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add eggs one at a time until well incorporated.  Mix in vanilla lemon juice and milk.  Add in dry ingredients slowly, until well incorporated.  In a small bowl, mix 2 tbs. of flour with the fresh blueberries, then gently stir  the blueberries into the batter.  Pour batter in cupcake liners, filling 3/4 of the way full, and bake for 20-22 minutes.  Let cool all the way before icing the cupcakes. To make the icing, beat all ingredients together with an electric mixer until well combined.  I like to have the icing sit in the fridge and get firm before icing the cupcakes.  I also put the icing into a freezer bag and cut the tip off of the end of the bag, as a make-shift pastry bag for icing cupcakes. I garnished with some sugared sprinkles and a few blueberries for the finishing touch.