Vanilla Cupcakes with mixed Berry compote filling

I made these cupcakes last month and even wrote up a post for posting them, but got caught up with tons of other things that it got delayed so long. Anyway last month, when I made these it had been a while since I  had baked anything at all. Finally I decided to just bake something very simple and ended up baking these simple vanilla cupcakes. These are my all time favorite, they are moist with a tender crumb and tastes great!

Look at these golden beauties, aren't they just lovely! They were still slightly warm when we ate them as we couldn't wait any longer and it was really good. After a while, I kept staring at my plain vanilla cupcakes, which btw I baked in colorful liners, the green one on special request by my son (he loves the color green).

I had some mixed berry compote in the fridge which I had made to make use of a leftover bag of mixed berries that was stashed away and literally forgotten in my freezer. And that's when the light bulb went on, why not make a filling of the yumm berry compote for these cupcakes. It sounded very good to me and I went ahead with it.

A fruit compote is almost a jam like sauce made with fresh/frozen fruit, some sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch (as thickner). It can be used as a filling for cakes/cupcakes, on top of pancakes/waffles, as a spread for bread/chapathi, as a topping for icecream sundaes and plenty more :-) It's quick to make and totally yumm.

Then I went ahead and scooped out tiny rounds from the centre of each cupcake using my melon baller. Go ahead, eat those little balls that you scooped out, I won't tell anyone ;-)

Fill each little hole with a good tsp full of berry compote...

Ta-Da...don't they look good!

 

I would have just left them at that. But I wanted them to look more pretty so I went and made a small batch of vanilla buttercream and used that to make a flower like pattern for the cupcakes and they looked delightful ;-) 

Moist Vanilla Cupcakes

Yields- 15-16 cupcakes

You’ll Need:

1 ¼  cups cake flour

1 ¼  tsp baking powder

½  tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

2 eggs

¾  cup sugar

1 ½  tsp pure vanilla extract

½  cup oil (vegetable, canola or extra light olive oil)

½  cup buttermilk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. In a medium bowl, add cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir together with whisk, and set aside.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, add eggs and beat 10-20 seconds.  Add sugar and continue to beat on medium speed about 30 seconds.  Add vanilla and oil and beat.

4. Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add about half of the flour mixture.  Add half of the milk, then the rest of the flour and the rest of the milk.  Beat until just combined.  Scrap down the side of the bowl.

5. The batter will be thin.   Pour batter into a muffin pan prepared with paper liners.  Fill liners about 2/3 full.

6. Bake cupcakes in pre-heated oven for 12-14 minutes.

7. Cool in pan 1-2 minutes, then remove cupcakes from pan (carefully) and finish cooling on a wire rack.

Tips:

Homemade buttermilk

1/2 cup Buttermilk =  1/2 cup milk + 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice - add acid to the milk then set aside for 5 minutes before using

Recipe source: Glorious Treats

Mixed Berry Compote

You’ll Need

1 cup frozen mixed berries (raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, strawberry)

½ cup sugar

½ Tblsp lemon juice

3 tsp Cornstarch (use as needed)

Directions:

1. In a pan add the mixed berries and sugar and keep the heat on medium and wait until the sugar dissolves and the mixture starts bubbling.

2. Add the lemon juice and enough cornstarch to make a thick jam-like sauce. Once its reached desired consistency turn off the heat.

The Berry compote is slightly tart yet sweet and very fruity and goes very well with the Vanilla Cupcakes. I bet the compote pairs well well with chocolate cupcakes too, gotta try that combo sometime.
Here's all the berry goodness with each bite...yumm!!

I made a fun gif image of the cupcakes getting ready ;-).... I love gif images, even more than videos !

Take care then...enjoy! Tons of recipes and cakes left to share....I hope to share them all before end of year ;-P

-Manju