Blueberry Cupcakes

When the city turned to shades of bright greens and pompous reds everywhere, the charm of Christmas played tunes over us too. The baubles, tinkles, Santa, Christmas tree and the twinkle lights hanging over our balcony sill still continue to charm and glow our house. My Chocolate Fruit Cake has seen it's end as my share of baked goodies have been distributed among family and friends and all are still relishing in the solace of home baked goodies. I am not done with the hangover yet and it feels nice to be soaked in the comfort of holiday opulence.

It's amazing to see people all around, all soaked in festive mood, mostly partying, shopping, exchanging greetings and sweet treats. I am having my share of gala time and as usual, I too can't stop myself from feeling excited about all this pomp and year end festivity. That's the real charm December month end is all about. And how I wish I could hold time in my fist and never let it go!

The year 2010 has been pretty good for us, in all aspects. It was fulfilling, bringing us joy and a year filled with contentment. Leaving behind year 2010 does bring a gloom on me for having to part with it, however heading towards the New Year 2011 brings more hope and joy as I look forward to a better year filled with excitement, new ventures, fulfilled dreams and ambitions, good luck and fortune. And to end this remarkable year and begin yet another adventurous year afresh, what can be better than to have a simple, yet delightful fruity dessert as my last post for this year.

I was lucky to have a batch of fresh Blueberries at hand my husband brought from US recently. These berries are fragile and tend to catch fungus easily. A good amount of these Blueberries and Blackberries went into our daily cereal breakfast and we loved them. Before the last few could be wiped off completely, I decided I should reserve the last few to bake a batch of Blueberry Cupcakes, least to satiate my baking desire before the year ends. The cupcakes turned out fabulous and went to make good treats for our evening snack.

Blueberry Cupcakes

(Adapted from The Big Book of Baking)

INGREDIENTS

225 g plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
A pinch of salt
115 g caster sugar
80 g fresh blueberries
150 ml thick yogurt
2 eggs
3 tbsp low fat butter or margarine
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Pre-heat the oven to 375 deg F. Line 12 paper muffin cases in the muffin pan.

Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with sugar, butter and vanilla extract. Then stir in the yogurt and blueberries until thoroughly mixed. Add this fruit mixture to the dry ingredients and then stir them all together gently.

Divide the mixture equally between the paper cases about two third full. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20-25 mins, or until risen and golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Frost them with choice of your topping as desired.

I tweaked the recipe a bit to suit us. The Big book of baking says 3 large eggs while I used just 2 small ones. I somehow felt that with 3 eggs, the egg-y flavors would get prominent and I am glad I stuck to 2. To compensate, I increased the quantity of baking soda by a bit. The taste was perfect with absolutely no compromise on it's texture.

An attempt to frost these cupcakes turned disastrous. I used whip cream powder and the whip cream just couldn't hold it's shape. Addition of more cream powder made it taste shoddy. Despite all possible workarounds, I had to give up on it. Anyways, I am not a big fan of cupcakes with heavy frostings, unless it was a pastry. The cake itself was so soft and spongy that I didn't see the need to frost it. The fruitiness from the berries complimented it well. I love the speckles of dotted blues in between the cake. Pretty, simple, yet cute!

I am sending these to Bakeomania hosted by Suma Rowjee of Cakes and More.

Yet another day to go and the year has come to an end. A New year is here to welcome. Bring out your dancing shoes, put on your best attire and head out for a wicked night out to have the best moments with your family and friends. Here's wishing everyone a Happy and a Prosperous New Year!