Blackberry Vanilla Cupcakes

I still haven't made Mila's birthday cake.

I KNOW.

I'm a week overdue, but for some reason she's okay with it? It's probably because I made ALL of the cupcakes for her party and she happily munched on the extras for several days. I'm going to pull my life together this week and make good on the elaborate panda cake she requested, but first let's remember that these vanilla cupcakes are AMAZING.

They bake up very perfectly in that they are a little dense, very rounded, and behave exactly like you want cupcakes to behave if you're going to decorate them.

And they taste good. Like, really good. Better than boxed BY FAR.

Blackberry Vanilla Cupcakes

(makes 24 cupcakes)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Blackberry Buttercream Frosting
1 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup blackberries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest of one lemon
5 cups powdered sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with super cute liners of your choice.

2. Place the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Stir them up with a whisk.

3. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla.

4. Put the wet ingredients in the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix at low speed until just combined.

5. Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when you poke at a cupcake.

6. To make the frosting, place all but the powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl. Mix at low speed for about 30 seconds then at higher speed until the blackberries are well mashed. Slowly add the powdered sugar and keep mixing until it's all combined and happy.

7. Top your cooled cupcakes with that frosting then top it all with a bunch of fancy sprinkles. Bonus points if you add a white chocolate star on top, but that's not really necessary.