The Blue Pom-Pom: Blueberry Pomegranate Cupcakes

Cupcake Hero is a fun little side project we always love to make time for. The last time we were able to compete was way back in October (you may remember our Pumpkin S'mores and Dias De Los Muertos Cupcakes). This month, we were lucky enough to have Dorothy from Kitchen Koala to take on the task of hosting Cupcake Hero. She decided to give June's cupcake a real summery feel and make the secret ingredient Blueberries!

Blueberries always tend to have the same partners in baked goods - lemon always tends to make an appearance, as do oats or other types of summery fruit. This was a problem for us. I absolutely love a good blueberry-lemon muffin, don't get me wrong, but that was too predictable for us. So, Mr.C and I wracked our brains - we even went to our beloved friends for new and different flavour profiles. Then inspiration hit:






 Pomegranate has been an up-in-coming flavour in the world of baking. When I came across POM Wonderful's Blueberry-Pomegranate juice, I knew we had the makings of a cupcake. When I started experimented with the recipe, I knew we were onto something good. When I took that first bite, I knew we may just have a winner.

(Speaking of winning, voting begins on June 23rd on Kitchen Koala's blog - Make sure you take a look at all the other entries. There's going to be some super yummy competition!)







Blue Pom-Pom Cupcakes
Makes 16 Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1/2 cup Blueberry-Pomegranate juice
2 teaspoons grated lime zest
1/2 cup plain Greek-style yogurt
1 quart fresh blueberries (about 1 1/2 cups)

1)Start preheating the oven to 350F. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl.

2)In a seperate bowl, beat the sugar and butter together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the zest and the pomegranate juice. Then incorporate the flour mixture and the yogurt mixture, alternating between the two, until everything is just mixed in. Mix in the blueberries until evenly distributed.

3)Pour batter into cupcake liners, and put them in the oven for about 25 minutes (or until your cake tester comes out clean). Let the little cakes cool before icing/glazing it.







Ricotta Frosting
Makes enough to cover your 16 cupcakes (plus a little extra, because you're going to eat this stuff by the spoonful)

400g of ricotta cheese
5 Tbsp icing sugar (you may need more, depending on how sweet you want your icing)
2 tsp of vanilla extract
4 Tbsp cream

1) Incorporate everything in a food processor or blender until smooth. Place it into the fridge until you are ready to ice the cupcakes.

Blueberry Glaze

3/4 cup blueberries
1 Tbsp blueberry-pomegranate juice
2 tsp sugar
a small squeeze of lime juice
1/2 tsp cornstarch

1)Pour the blueberries, juices, and sugar in a small saucepan and heat up. Using the back of your spoon, squish down all the berries so that all the fruit is separated from the skins. After the sugar has be fully incorporated (meaning that there are no grains in the mixture), put the contents of the pan in a small strainer so that the berry skins can be separated from the rest of the mixture. Put the skins on some ice cream and consume (yum!). Put the blueberry juice back in the saucepan and whisk in the cornstarch. After there are no cornstarch bitties left in the sauce, let the glaze cool off completely before you drizzle it over the cupcakes and frosting.






we've got all your antioxidants right here, baby