Blueberries and kefir cupcakes!

Bluberries cupcakes, a must have!

The mere mention of cupcakes makes you drool! Not many people can exert self-control when looking at a cupcake as it calls them begging to get eaten! Well I hope it's not just me who looks at cupcakes that way, but I am sure it's not!

What's great about cupcakes and it is really the source of their worldwide success is their extreme flexibility. With few basic ingredients, an endless array of flavors and a sprinkle of imagination you will be able to make irresistible treats ready to be enjoyed anytime and anywhere.

Cupcakes have existed for many centuries and they were called so because they were baked in cups. An additional origin to their name may reside in the fact that their making called for a cupful of flour, a cupful of sugar and a cupful of butter.

Nowadays, endless choices of cupcakes can be found, with strong emphasis on fancy decoration using a variety of frosting and techniques.

If you follow my blog you might have picked up that I am a fan of berries, especially summer ones. Blueberries are one of these berries that lend themselves so well to baking, it's as if their flavor really shines when used in combination with other ingredients, like for instance kefir. They melt in the batter, they have tiny seeds, they add an aromatic and acidic flavor that goes well with a mildly sweet frosting.

Blubberies add an aromatic tartness to cupcakes

So no more talking and let´s start with the recipe:
For the cupcakes: (makes about 10)

• 120 g soft butter
• 100 g sugar (you can add 20 gr if you want)
• 2 eggs
• 140 g flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 6 tbsp blueberry kefir or yogurt
• 70 g blueberries
• tsp vanilla essence
• pinch of salt

For the frosting:

• 100 g cream cheese
• 150 ml cream
• 1 tbsp of granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp blueberries syrup

Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together.

Cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs one by one and mix until well combined. Start adding 1/3 of the flour mixture, fold slowly with a spatula, add 3 tbsp of the kefir, add another third of the flour, then the kefir and finish by adding the last 1/3 of flour.
You can either mix the berries with the batter or just drop some as you pour the mixture into the cups.

Do not fill the cups to the top as the batter will rise

Pour the mixture in the baking cups and bake for 25 min in a preheated oven (180C).  The baking time will depend on the size of the cups you are using, for smaller ones 20 min are enough for the big ones, about 30. Whatever the case, keep an eye on them while baking, nobody likes a dry cupcake.

Baked, cupcakes have a golden top crust

As for the frosting, mix the cream cheese, the powdered sugar and the syrup until well combined. Whisk the cream with the sugar until light and fluffy, slowly start folding the whipped cream to the cream cheese.

Decorate with sweet frosting and fresh fruits

I decorated my cupcakes with frosting, some blueberries syrup and fresh berries.

Bluberries cupcakes, simple, elegant and delicious