Vanilla Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream

I love raspberries. I love all berries truthfully and summer is certainly the season for berries. Unfortunately because of all the rain and cold here, Britain hasn’t has a very good berry season. The brave little berries struggled through and made it to my grocery’s shelves where there were snapped up by me! I must admit I may have gone a bit overboard because I ended up with a fridge full of punnets! I found that of the three punnets of raspberries I could only eat so many straight from the fridge. I needed a new plan! I was making cupcakes for a farewell party at work so the raspberries had to go into them. I didn’t want to bake the raspberries and lose the freshness, so into the buttercream they went!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cup granulated white sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 large lemon
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.
3. In a separate bowl whisk together the lemon zest, flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. With the mixer on low-speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
5. Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 17 – 20 minutes or just until set and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.  Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing. If you want flat-topped cupcakes then slice off the dome of each cupcake before frosting.

Raspberry Buttercream

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup fresh raspberries
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 (16-oz.) package powdered sugar

1. Beat first 4 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.
2. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low-speed until blended and smooth after each addition.
3. Be sure to wash and thoroughly dry raspberries before adding to frosting.