Cupcakes are a great choice for any celebration – like the 10th anniversary of the Twice as Tasty food blog – or as an everyday dessert. For parties, it’s easy to scale up or down or make a collection of cupcakes with different batters and toppings. The jam-filled recipe I share here is simple yet elegant as is and becomes extra special if you add a buttercream frosting. As an everyday dessert, I usually skip the frosting for easier transport but might still use several jam types for variety.
This recipe makes a fairly simple buttery, vanilla-tinged batter. But these cupcakes aren’t so buttery that buttercream frosting becomes overpowering. They support the weight of the jam yet have a light, fluffy texture. That’s mainly because the batter is so thin you could pour it into the muffin cups. I spoon it in so that I’m less likely to dribble across the muffin tray.
I mix the batter by hand or use an electric mixer with care. It’s easy to overbeat this batter and produce flat, gummy cupcakes.
Any fruit jam fills these cupcakes nicely. I prefer fruit-forward, low-sugar jams, so I make canner batches with Pomona’s Universal Pectin, which creates soft-set jam with little to no sweetener. If you use a thickly gelled jam instead, warm it briefly so that it’s easier to tuck into the cupcake centers.
If you don’t can at home, consider a freezer or quick refrigerator jam recipe with seasonal fruit and herbs. Some of my favorite combinations that taste delicious in these cupcakes include rhubarb with Earl Grey tea, strawberry with lavender, strawberry with tequila and agave, raspberry plus white currant, cherry plus raspberry and plum with basil and mint.
Buttery Jam-Filled Cupcakes
Makes 12
2/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup low-fat or whole milk
1-1/2 teaspoons Homemade Vanilla Extract
About 1/4 cup jam, any flavor
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Measure out the milk. In alternating batches, beat the flour mixture and the milk into the butter mixture. Stir in the vanilla until just combined.
Fit paper or silicone cupcake liners into 12 regular-size (about 2-3/4 inch diameter) muffin cups. Spoon the batter into the lined cups until about three-quarters full.
Bake at 350°F for 20 to 25 minutes, until the cupcakes bounce back when lightly touched. Cool the cupcakes in the pan on a wire rack for five minutes before removing them to cool completely on the rack.
Carefully core a small hole in the top of each cupcake. Fill each hole with about 1 teaspoon of jam, letting it mound slightly if you will serve the cupcakes as is or making the jam flush with the top if you will add frosting.
Julie Laing is a Bigfork-based cookbook author and food blogger. Learn more about this month’s grilling and camp-meal workshops at TwiceAsTasty.com.