Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes w/ Mascarpone Whip Cream
These Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes just scream spring! A delicious and moist lemon flavored cupcake is the base to this recipe, complete with lemon zest, lemon juice, and lemon extract, to ensure that lemon flavor is at the forefront. Juicy ripe blueberries are thrown in to provide another sweet element to the cupcakes. And last, but not least, a fresh and light mascarpone whipped cream is piled on top of each little cupcake! The mascarpone whipped cream provides a fresh element to the lemon blueerry cupcakes to compliment and contrast from the citrusy and sweet cupcake. To tie in the flavors of the mascarpone whipped cream with the cupcake, a bit of rubbed lemon zest is added, which really brightens the entire topping up!
Oil vs. Butter
As you’ll notice with these Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes, and most of my cake/cupcake recipes, I use oil in place of butter as the fat. There are many reasons for this. First, its easy. Using oil instead of butter makes such easy work of a cake. There’s no need to plan in advance and pull out the butter and you do not need to worry about properly creaming the butter and sugar together to ensure proper rising. But the reasoning for using oil is beyond this – 9 times out of 10 it results in a superior texture! Oil-based cakes are much more moist and tender, and actually less dense as well! Oil, by volume, is lighter in weight than butter is, and it also does a better job at encapsulating the flour molecules better than butter does. This superior encapsulation results in better lubrication and less gluten formation!
What all this means is that the lemon blueberry cupcakes will be more tender and more moist! While butter provides excellent flavor in a cake or cupcake recipe, if I can get away with using oil, I will always choose oil. And, in a recipe like this one, which is heavily flavored with lemon, you’re really not going to miss the flavor that butter provides – so it’s a win-win!
Fresh vs Frozen Blueberries
Being that it is spring and blueberries are now in season, it is the perfect time to take advantage of using fresh blueberries in your baking! However, that being said, at other times during the year it can be hard to find fresh blueberries, and sometimes you have to resort to using frozen. But if you’ve ever used frozen blueberries in a batter before, you may have noticed that your entire muffin or cupcake turned blue or even green! Well, there is a simple solution to this – rinsing your frozen berries! Rinsing the blueberries will remove any of the excess juice that surrounds the berries, ensuring that that liquid isn’t around to seep into the rest of the batter and dye it. The rinse required is not a quick one though. When rinsing you need to keep rinsing until the water draining off of them is almost clear. But after this thorough rinse, the frozen blueberries should be good to use, and no different than fresh!
What is Mascarpone?
Mascarpone is an Italian cream cheese. It is smooth in texture, like cream cheese, but is rather neutral in flavor, unlike tangy cream cheese. Mascarpone is high in butterfat which gives in a creamy, buttery texture and flavor. I like to think of mascarpone as basically super thick cream, and as such it works well in a variety of way and recipes. It can be added to pasta, to provide creaminess and thickening, or it can be added in place of whipped cream in a dessert – truly so versatile! In this recipe for Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes, the mascarpone is used in conjunction with whipped cream to create the topping for the cupcakes! Whipped cream, by itself, is very fragile and will begin to weep after only a few hours and completely lose it’s shape and structure very quickly. Whipped cream, therefore needs a friend of some sort, to keep it rigid and in shape, so to say. That is where mascarpone comes in. Mascarpone acts as a stabilizer for the whipped cream, providing it structure and therefore longevity. Furthermore, as the mascarpone is high in butterfat, it also provides a more butter-like component to the topping, making the texture slightly reminiscent of your typical buttercream.
Click Here for Other Recipes with Mascarpone
How to Make the Mascarpone Whipped Cream
Making the Mascarpone Whipped Cream topping for the Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes is actually quite simple. We start by rubbing together the granulated sugar and lemon zest. This process releases the lemon zests essential oils, essentially making it more flavorful. Next, add the cold heavy cream to a bowl or stand mixer, then throw in the lemon-zest-sugar, confectioners sugar, and vanilla. Beat this mixture until the whipped cream has formed stiff peaks. Then simply add in the mascarpone, and continue to beat until the mascarpone is well incorporated and the texture is smooth. Easy as pie!
It should be noted, however, that you will need to keep these cupcakes refrigerated once the Mascarone Whipped Cream is piped on top. Whipped cream does not like heat of any sort, and will VERY quickly melt (even after being stabilized by the mascarpone) if any heat is present.
Get the Recipe: Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes with Mascarpone Whipped Cream
Ingredients
Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes
- 2 ¼ cups All Purpose Flour,, measured correctly †
- 1 ½ tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Table Salt
- 1 ½ cups Sugar,, divided
- Zest of 2 Lemons
- 3 Whole Eggs
- 1 ½ tsp Vanilla
- 1 tsp Lemon Extract
- 3/4 cup Vegetable Oil
- 1 cup Full Fat Sour Cream
- Juice of ½ of a Lemon
- 1 cup Fresh Blueberries
Mascarpone Whipped Cream
- 1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
- Zest of 1 Lemon
- 2 cups Heavy Cream,, cold
- 1/2 cup Confectioners Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 cups Mascarpone,, cold
Equipment
- Stand mixer
Instructions
Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F, and prepare 2 cupcake pans by coating with liners. In a medium to large sized mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, and salt, then whisk together to combine. In a separate bowl, add ½ cup of sugar and lemon zest, then rub together the sugar and zest until the sugar is all colored yellow and very fragrant, set aside.
- In a standmixer fitted with the flat beater attachment, add whole eggs, sugar, lemon-zest-sugar, vanilla, and lemon extract. Beat on high for around 5 minutes, the mixture should look thick, fluffy, and be tripled in volume. Then, slowly drizzle in the oil. After all the oil has been added, beat for an additional minute.
- On low, add the dry mixture to the stand mixer, mixing until just combined. Add in the sour cream and lemon juice, and mix only until the batter becomes smooth. Turn the stand mixer off, add in blueberries, and fold blueberries into the batter with a spatula. Add the batter to the cupcake pans (filling each about 2/3 full), then bake in the oven for around 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting. After frosting with mascarpone whipped cream, ensure that cupcakes are kept in the refrigerator.
Mascarpone Whipped Cream
- In a small bowl, add granulated sugar and lemon zest, rub together until the sugar is yellow and very fragrant.
- Add heavy cream, confectioners sugar, lemon-zest-sugar, and vanilla, to a large bowl, beat with an electric mixer or stand mixer until stiff peaks have formed. Add mascarpone and continue to beat, just until smooth. Be careful not to overbeat.
Notes
Related Recipes
For more citrusy bakes check out my recipes for LEMON AND ELDERFLOWER CUPCAKES, or VANILLA CARDAMOM BUNDT CAKE W/ VANILLA BEAN GLAZE
Thanks for well explained recipes
Any time!! Glad you find them informative and helpful!