Blueberry Cupcakes

These blueberry cupcakes are made with fruit puree which gives them their beautiful blue color. You don’t need any food coloring. Using blueberry puree is an easy way to give cupcakes an all-natural color.

Look how blue these blueberry cupcakes are! And there is no food coloring in this recipe – the color is all-natural using blueberry puree. I love being able to achieve different colored desserts using fruit puree as a natural food dye.

I was inspired to make these after making sour cream blueberry ice cream. The blueberries turned the ice cream a vibrant purple that I loved and I wondered if I could create that same color in cupcakes, so I tried it and I was happy with how it turned out. I love how blue these cupcakes are.

How to Make Blueberry Puree

Blueberry puree is really simple to make. I dreaded making it and put it off for a long time, but once I made it, I realized how quick it is, and now I want to make it all the time.

• 1 cup blueberries
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar

All you do is cook the blueberries with the sugar over medium heat. As the fruit cooks, it will release moisture which will dissolve the sugar. Bring it all to a boil and once the blueberries break down and soften the puree is ready.

Transfer the mixture to a blender and puree it until smooth. Strain it through a fine-mesh sieve and then cool the puree before using it to make the cupcakes.

Tips for Making the Cupcakes

• I kept the cupcake batter pretty simple and folded in the puree at the end.
• I kept my cupcakes plain because I didn’t want to cover up the pretty color, but I think they would be really good with mascarpone frosting or whipped cream frosting, which is very easy to make: just whip 2 cups of heavy cream with 6 tablespoons of granulated sugar until it holds stiff peaks. Pipe onto the cooled cupcakes.
• If you are making these for an event I recommend making the same day you want to serve them. After a day, the blue color fades on the inside and isn’t quite as pretty when you bite into it. The outside does stay pretty vibrant, though.

I will definitely try using other fruit purees to create fun colors. I wonder how strawberries or raspberries might work. It’s a nice way to add color without using traditional food coloring.

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