There is a whole world of baking devoted to cupcakes: flavor combinations, fillings, decorations, presentation. 

While I am not one to shy away from treats, when I bake sweets for my family I tend to lower the sugar content and sneak in something healthy. They still get gobbled up quickly and I feel a little better about letting my little one indulge in a cupcake before dinner or three cookies instead of one. 
If you prefer sweeter sweets, there's room in the recipe to increase the sugar. 

I am so in love with the color of this icing I couldn't wait to share it with you. There is no food coloring, this striking purple comes from the Blueberry Basil Spread alone. Impress your guests with this naturally colorful confection.

Let's gather up our ingredients, shall we?

For the lemon poppyseed cupcakes:
1 1/3 cups cake flour (you can use all purpose but the cake flour will give them a greater chance to get nice and fluffy)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (I used our Basil Infused Sea Salt to meld the flavors together)
1/4 cup butter- softened to room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs - room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
lemon zest- about one heaping tablespoon
juice of one lemon
3/4 plain Greek or Icelandic yogurt 
1 tbsp poppy seeds 

For the buttercream icing:
1 cup softened butter (make sure it's truly soft or the texture will be off)
1/2 cup Blueberry Basil Spread
2 cups confectioners sugar (I found it plenty sweet with this amount but you can add more)

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. Prepare one muffin pan- this recipe makes 12 cupcakes. In one bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl mix your wet ingredients. Mix dry ingredients into wet and then stir in the poppy seeds. Fill your cupcake liners or greased muffin tins about 2/3 full with batter and bake for about 12 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Be careful, with such a high temperature they will over bake very quickly if you let them.
While the cupcakes bake, cream together the butter and fruit spread with a handheld or standing mixer. Slowly add powered sugar while creaming until you get the icing that you want. The longer you whip, the fluffier it will get.

Be sure to let the cupcakes cool completely before adding the icing. Otherwise the warmth from the cupcakes will melt the butter.

These are wonderfully sweet and refreshing, the sweetness of the blueberries balancing out the tartness of the lemons. A light summer treat or a reminder of spring during the cold winter months. 

Tag us @smallbatchkitchen if you make this recipe and tell us what you think!

Happy Tasting!