Description
These buttery-soft blueberry cream cupcakes are bursting with juicy blueberries and pure vanilla flavor, and are topped with a fluffy cloud of lemony whipped cream cheese frosting. These cupcakes are a perfect treat for spring and summer when blueberries are in season.
Cupcakes
Whipped Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
- Make the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners. This recipe yields about 15 cupcakes, so line a second muffin pan with 3 cupcake liners, or bake in batches.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter and sugar together. Mixture will be gritty. Whisk in the egg whites, sour cream, milk, and vanilla extract until combined.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until the batter is completely combined. Batter should be creamy and mostly smooth; a few small lumps are OK. With a spatula, gently fold in the blueberries.
- Pour/spoon the batter into the liners, filling only 2/3 full to avoid spilling over the sides. You should have enough batter for 15 cupcakes.
- Bake for 20–22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove cupcakes from the oven and allow them to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Cupcakes must be completely cooled before topping.
- Make the frosting: In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 3–4 minutes. If you accidentally over-whip the cream, and it looks curdled and heavy, pour in a little bit more cold heavy cream, and fold it in gently by hand with a spatula until it smooths out. Transfer the whipped cream to a medium bowl.
- In the same bowl used for the whipped cream (no need to wash it), beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the confectioners’ sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the whipped cream to the cream cheese mixture and gently fold together with a spatula just until combined. Do not overmix.
- Frost cooled cupcakes. You can use a piping bag and tip to pipe the frosting on, or spread it on with an icing spatula or knife. I used piping tip Ateco 808. Garnish cupcakes with fresh blueberries and/or mint, if desired.
- Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Cover and store leftover cupcakes in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. I recommend a cupcake carrier for storing and transporting decorated cupcakes.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Bake the cupcakes 1 day in advance. Keep cupcakes covered tightly at room temperature and fill/frost the day of serving. You can make the whipped cream cheese frosting and store it covered in the refrigerator for up to 1 day before using. Unfrosted cupcakes can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before frosting and serving.
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- Update in 2025: This recipe was originally published in 2014. Over the years, I made some subtle improvements. If you prefer to make it the old way, reduce the baking powder to 1/2 teaspoon, use 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar and 1/2 cup light brown sugar, use 1 large egg instead of 2 egg whites, and add 2 teaspoons lemon zest. The original recipe called for cream cheese frosting.
- Can I Use Frozen Blueberries? For best results, I strongly recommend using fresh. If you decide to use frozen, do not thaw and expect the cupcakes to taste dense.
- Egg Whites: It’s best to use only egg whites in this cupcake recipe because they will ensure that the crumb is not weighed down by the fat in egg yolks. If needed, you can use 1 full egg instead. Keep in mind the texture of the cupcake will change.
- Sour Cream & Whole Milk: Sour cream and whole milk are strongly recommended for the best taste and texture. If needed, plain yogurt (either Greek or regular) works instead of sour cream. Same goes with a lower-fat milk (I don’t recommend nonfat). Nondairy milk works in a pinch. You can replace both the whole milk and sour cream with buttermilk (1 cup/240ml) if needed.
- Vanilla: I use a combination of pure vanilla extract and vanilla bean in this batter. You can, of course use vanilla bean paste instead of using both. I recommend 2 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste.
- Be sure to check out my 10 tips for baking the BEST cupcakes before you begin.
- Cream Cheese: Make sure you are using brick cream cheese and not cream cheese spread. Bricks of cream cheese are typically 8 ounces (226g) each, so you need 1 and 1/2 bricks.