Blueberry Streusel Cupcakes

Day 14 and Topless Thursday! Its good to have a frost free day midweek! If only Melbourne wasn’t giving us this icy blast of weather!

I want to pose a question. Is it possible to have too many blueberries? My answer is no. Never. So I made these Blueberry Streusel Cupcakes. Which are, from their picture, apparently made of blueberries and not much else. Kind of like they should be.

The idea for today’s Blueberry Streusel Cupcakes are a straight pinch from the inconceivably pretty Blueberry Swirl Muffins from Honestly Yum. I claim no intellectual property in the concept of these cupcakes at all. I don’t think my cupcakes are as visually stunning as those over on Honestly Yum, but boy, do they taste amazing. A tender cake, rich in egg yolk and ground almonds, lemon zest and an unreasonable amount of blueberries per weight of cake mixture… blueberry swirl and an almond streusel is a recipe for success.

Blueberry Streusel Cupcakes

It’s hard to say whether these are breakfast type cakes, during-the-day-type cakes, or dessert type cakes. I ate one hot and I really wish it had been with vanilla bean ice cream. On the other hand, they are basically a serving of fruit each, and blueberries are a “superfood” so I think they are all-day, all the time type cupcakes.

Blueberry Streusel Cupcakes

makes 12

Blueberry Topping

ingredients

1 cup blueberries
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tsp lemon zest

mixing

Combine the blueberries, sugar and lemon zest and cook over a medium heat until the blueberries have defrosted. Mash the blueberries in the mixture with a spoon or potato masher, then let the mixture bubble away until it is syrupy – about 5 minutes. Let cool.

Almond Streusel Crumbs

ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
pinch of salt
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tablespoons almond meal
2 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted

mixing

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and work with a wooden spoon until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Set aside.

Blueberry Almond Cupcakes

ingredients

125g unsalted butter
2/3 cups sugar
1/2 tsp lemon zest
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 cup flour
1 cup almond meal
3 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup milk
2 cups blueberries

mixing

Line a 12 hole muffin pan with cupcake cases, spray with non-stick spray.

Beat together the butter and sugar with the lemon zest until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and yolks. Mix in the flour and milk and beat well to combine.

The almond cupcake mixture and almond streusel

Stir in blueberries. If you are using frozen blueberries, do this quickly, as the mixture will seize.

Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases. If you used frozen berries, set aside for half an hour or so to allow the mixture to come back to temperature, then flatten the batter a little.

Spoon about 2 tsp of Blueberry Topping on the tops of the cupcakes, and spread over the surface. Crumble the Almond Streusel over the top.

Topping the cupcakes

Bake the cupcakes at 180 degrees Celsius for 25-30 minutes. The cakes will still whisper a little when you take them out, and if you insert a skewer into a cupcake, it will come out clean, but blue from all those berries! Let cool in the pan. Serve warm or cold.

Blueberry Streusel Cupcakes – begging for ice cream or clotted cream…

Enjoy!xxx