One of my favourite things about the end of the summer is going on walks in the sunshine and picking brambles along the way. I always come home with far too many berries! But the best part about it is making a big stash of homemade jam that will see me through the cold winter months.
Whether you have blackberry jam in the cupboards or you’re a supermarket jam kind of person, these Chocolate & Blackberry Cupcakes can be made all year round.
The moist chocolate sponge cupcakes are filled with a generous spoonful of blackberry jam – the sweet but tart berries are a perfect match for the dense, rich chocolate sponge.
This recipe is designed to be gluten free as all my recipes are, but they can easily be made with normal flour.
This recipe makes 12 cupcakes and takes approximately 2 hours to make. I’ve included a recipe to make the homemade blackberry jam however shop-bought is of course fine!
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 150 g unsalted butter or margarine, softened
- 150 g soft light brown sugar
- 3 medium eggs, at room temperature
- 100 g gluten free self raising flour
- 50 g ground almonds
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 40 g cocoa powder
- 1/2 tbsp vanilla bean paste or extract
For the jam:
- 12 tsp of blackberry jam
OR
- 200 g blackberries, washed
- 200 g jam sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
For the buttercream:
- 150 g unsalted butter, softened
- 300 g icing sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1-2 drops purple food colouring (gel based is best)
- 1-2 tbsp of milk or boiled water
Useful Equipment: 12 hole muffin tray, 12 muffin cases, mixing bowl, spatula, hand/stand mixer with whisk attachment, piping bag with nozzle (I used a Large French Star piping tip), medium saucepan, small plate, sieve
Method:
If you’re making your own blackberry jam, this can be made well in advance (it will keep up to 3 months in a sealed, sterilised jar):
- Place a small plate in the freezer. You will use this later to test whether the jam has reached its setting point.
- Put all the ingredients in a medium saucepan and mix to make sure all of the fruit is coated in the sugar.
- Heat the mixture on a low heat, stirring occasionally. Once the sugar starts to dissolve, bring to a boil and let it boil for 5 mins.
- At this point, start testing for the setting point by putting a small tsp of jam on the plate from the freezer. Once the jam has cooled, poke it with your finger; if it wrinkles distinctly then it’s done. If it can be pushed around without any resistance, continue to boil for another 2 mins before testing again. Repeat this until you reach the setting point.
- Once reached, leave the jam to cool in the pan. If you’re making your jam ahead of time, leave to cool for 5 mins before decanting into a sterilised jar.
For the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 170 °C fan/ 335 °F and line the 12 hole muffin pan with cupcake cases.
- Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time until combined. Add the vanilla and mix.
- Sieve in the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder and add the ground almonds. Fold until combined.
- Finally, divide the mixture evenly between the cupcake cases and bake for 18-20 mins or until the sponge springs back when pressed. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cooled, using a teaspoon, scoop out the centre of the cupcake – be careful not to hit the bottom of the cake! Place a generous teaspoon of blackberry jam inside.
- For the buttercream, beat the butter until softened and gradually add the icing sugar until a smooth consistency is reached. Add the vanilla extract and food colouring and mix to combine. If your buttercream is too thick, you can add 1 tbsp of milk or boiled water at a time until smooth and soft.
- To pipe the buttercream, place your piping bag with your desired tip in a glass and fold the edges of the bag over the rim – this makes it easier to fill. Fill your piping bag with buttercream and make sure there are no air bubbles inside.
- Pipe your buttercream onto the tops of your cooled cupcakes – to get the swirl, start in the middle and work your way out. Decorate however you desire – I used fresh, juicy blackberries!
These cupcakes will keep in an airtight container for 3 – 5 days. Enjoy!
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