Giant Vanilla Blueberry Cupcake

Hi everyone, sorry for the long absence. It's been quite hectic getting used to a new place and a new job.  It's also hard to bake when most of my stuff is still in boxes! I was asked by a friend to make a special cupcake for a colleague who just had a baby boy. Of course I couldn't say no and it gave me an incentive to unpack some of my kitchen boxes. The request was for a giant vanilla raspberry cupcake but as it's for a baby boy, I suggested blueberries. I also decided to try out using white chocolate fingers to decorate the base which worked really well. I hope the recipients enjoyed the cake - congratulations on the new arrival! 

I used the same recipe as my giant vanilla raspberry cupcake but substituted the raspberries with blueberries. There was some extra batter left so I baked it and got to try some of the cake. It was light, moist and full of berries. I'll definitely be making this cake again in a regular cake tin! I was really pleased with how the giant cupcake turned out - my best effort so far at decorating them :) I have been busy baking ever since so will try to post daily or every two days this week.... the bakingaddict is back! 

adding gorgeous blueberries to the mix

 ready to go in the oven 

 I trimmed the top and bottom of the cake to make them level 

 I also sliced the bottom half in two and spread some buttercream in the middle

 I used more buttercream to stick the white chocolate fingers to the base

 This is what it looks like with a crumb coating on top. 

 I coloured the buttercream blue and piped swirls and stars on top of the cupcake and finished it with some coloured sugar pearls 

 The finishing touch - a bright blue ribbon!

For the cake
375g butter
375g sugar
6 eggs
375g self raising flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
150g fresh blueberries

For the icing
500g icing sugar
120g butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4-6 tablespoons of milk
blue gel paste 

coloured sugar pearls to decorate
Preheat the oven to 180C.

• Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
• Add the eggs one at a time and mix well between each addition.
• Mix in the flour and vanilla extract.
• Finally stir in the fresh blueberries.
• Fill the cupcake mould until 2/3 full - do not overfill!
• Bake for approximately 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow to cool completely.
• Make the icing by beating all the ingredients together until smooth. 
• Decorate as shown above