Blueberry-Almond Cupcakes with Lemon Glaze

I waited all week for the weekend (don't we all?), but not for the usual reasons. I was anxious to get my bake on. That's right...my weeks are so busy that I look forward to the weekend so I can bake, bake, bake! But I didn't want to just bake any ol' thing...I wanted to come up with something of my own that I could share with you all!

I saw a recipe in Martha Stewart Cupcakes that looked good - Blueberries and Cream cupcakes, but I am not much of a fan of whipped cream icing - only for the travel factor though. So, I decided to create my own blueberry cupcake with an alternate frosting...or in this case, glaze. 



The batter was to-die-for and the glaze I could have licked straight out of the bowl. But the over-all outcome...eh...it needs a bit of tweaking yet. I needed a ton more blueberries, possibly pureed and dropped into the batter once it was in the cups, because it was hard to taste any blueberry at all most times...but aside from that they were delightful!

A Sweet Beginnings Original Recipe: Blueberry-Almond Cupcakes with Lemon Glaze

*Disclaimer: I am not saying that no one on the planet has ever come up with a recipe similar to this, but I was unable to find one in my cookbooks or by searching online, so to the best of my knowledge, this is an original recipe. 

Ingredients 

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 Tbs baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs at room temperature
• 2 tsp almond extract
• 1 1/4 cups milk at room temperature
• 2 cups blueberries 

For the glaze: 

• 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1/4 tsp grated lemon zest
• 4 Tbs lemon juice 

Preparation: 

1. Heat oven the 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Whisk together both flours, baking powder, and salt.
3. With a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until they are "fluffy". Add eggs, one at a time, mixing each one until fully incorporated. Beat in Almond extract.
4. Alternate adding flour mixture and milk, starting with flour, beating until fully combined after each addition. Fold in blueberries.
5. Divide batter evenly among cups, filling about 3/4 full. Bake until  pale golden, about 15 minutes for minis, 25 minutes for standard size. Transfer to wire rack to cool before removing from pan.
6. Whisk together all glaze ingredients and use immediately.