Wild Blueberry Velvet Cupcakes ♥

I have a wild imagination.

I know you probably have some wild in you too.

So I'm sharing a Wild Blueberry Velvet Cupcake recipe with you.

I see blueberries as nature's little edible ♥ gems.  They are blue on the outside..but how sensational is it that blueberries are bursting with violet on the inside!? Think of the blueberry as a beautiful ombre delight.  

My vision of a Wild Blueberry..Swirled with Electric Pink & Electric Blue frosting

(using Americolor Gels).  See my Rainbow Cupcakes Tutorial for how to Create A Rainbow Frosting Swirl.

Blueberries as the "gems" on top.

Sometimes I use chocolate covered blueberries on top. They're pretty and shiny. 

I buy them at my local Bulk Food Supplier.

What makes a cupcake *velvet*?

 Everyone has a different perception of velvet. To me..a velvet cupcake is rich. Rich in color...Rich in flavor..and combines some Luxurious tantalizing flavor journey that you can't quite explain. Leaves you asking, "What is that......Velvet?"

♥

I used Royal Blue Americolor Gel Paste to get the perfect color of blue. ♥ If it is too grey of a blue for you, you can also add a tint of purple to your blue batter!

You can liven up the blueberry flavor even more..by cutting a blueberry pop tart into squares.. and baking a square inside of each cupcake.  I pipe a small layer of blueberry batter into the cupcake liner, place a blueberry pop tart square on top  of this first layer.  Then I pipe another layer of blueberry batter on top of the pop tart. Sometimes..I don't even tell people about this surprise. The blueberry pop tart baked inside of the cupcake creates so much wonder.. "What in the world was that amazing gush of blueberry they just bit into?!"

You're turning Violet.♥

Wild Blueberry Velvet Cupcakes.

Your Own Bake At Home Version of my creation!

Ingredients:

1 box of white cake mix
1 1/2 Cups of Buttermilk
1/2 Cup Dry Instant Chocolate Pudding or 1 small 3.9 oz packet.
1/2 Cup Canola or Vegetable Oil
4 Eggs
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 Cup Blueberries (thawed if frozen)

Royal Blue Americolor Gel Paste + Violet Americolor Gel Paste-A few drops of each until you reach your desired level of blue color.

Optional: 1 packet of Duncan Hines Blue Raspberry Frosting Creations

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 and line your pans with 24 cupcake liners.
2. In one large bowl, sift white cake mix and chocolate pudding (dry right out of the box-not prepared) together.
3. Measure 1 1/2 Cups of Buttermilk in a separate liquid measuring cup.
4. In stand mixer, cream oil and eggs together until evenly whipped.
5. Alternately add your dry cake mix/pudding mixture and buttermilk to the creamed eggs and oil.  Add 1 teaspoon of almond extract.
6. Optional:  Fold in 1 packet of Duncan Hines Blue Raspberry Frosting Creations (you can buy these at your local grocery store in the baking aisle. Sometimes they are hard to find which is why I left this optional.  The blue raspberry frosting creations packet enhances the flavor of these cupcakes)!
7.  When your batter is smooth and you have scraped the bowl down a few times to make sure there aren't ingredients left on the bottom of the bowl, begin to add your Americolor gel paste for the blue in the cupcake.  I alternately add 2-3 dots of both Royal Blue Americolor Gel Paste and Violet until I reach a pretty royal blue color!  (see photos above for a match).
8.  Fold in 1/2 Cup Blueberries.
9.  Using an ice cream scoop, fill each cupcake wrapper about 3/4 full with batter.
10.  Bake for about 22-24 minutes or until cupcake springs back up when you touch it.

For those who are sensitive to food colors or prefer a more natural coloring:  The blueberries that you fold into this recipe will do the trick!  It will be more like a blue "swirl" in your cupcakes instead of the dark blue pictured here  Or instead of folding the blueberries in, you can puree the blueberries and pour the pureed mixture into your batter for a darker blue color.

Cream Cheese Frosting:(If you want to pipe the swirls like I did above, make sure you add enough powdered sugar to the frosting until it has peaks when you whip it).

8 oz Cream Cheese (softened)

½ Cup Butter (softened)

3-5 Tablespoons Milk or Heavy Whipping Cream

1 Tablespoon Vanilla

6-8 Cups Powdered Sugar
Optional:  1 packet of Duncan Hines Blue Raspberry Frosting Creations
Edible Gems:  Chocolate Covered Blueberries (I found mine as pictured at the Bulk Priced Food Shop in Greenville, Wisconsin)

Piping tips to use:  French Star Pastry Tip, Open Star Pastry Tip

Optional colors to use in frosting:  Electric Pink, Electric Purple, Royal Purple, Royal Blue, Electric Blue

1.   Whip Cream Cheese and Butter until Creamy.

2.   Add Milk or Heavy Whipping Cream & whip together until blended.

3.   Gradually add powdered sugar until it forms creamy peaks.
4.  Optional:  Whip the Blue Raspberry Frosting Creations packet into your frosting for a light blue color in your frosting and to enhance the flavor of your blueberry velvet cupcake!

The Cupcake Dance!

A few weeks ago, a dream of mine came true.

I opened my cupcake shoppe!

And it isn't just any cupcake shoppe.

It is my vision.

A home for my cupcakes.

I call it The Cupcake Mansion because it should be a destination.

A place for people to fill their bellies (and mustaches, hair, skin!) with sugar and frosting and sparkles.  But also a place with purpose, a place that fills you up with happiness like when you were a little kid.  

This is the action. My friends & I preparing the cupcake mansion for lots o love. We were GLITTERIZING the wall in the shoppe. Yes, just throwing sparkles at the wet wall. (People asked how we did it.. we painted the wall with clear glaze and threw glitter all over it while it was still wet. Lots and lots of glitter!)

When I say this place has purpose..

it is more than just about making people happy.

I'm on a mission to use my God given gift of cupcake making to change lives :).  

(which you may or may not have already known, but now I'm announcing it loud and clear!)

(cupcake skirt with glitter hearts!)

I painted some lives with delicious dreams a few days after my successful grand opening!

I hosted a cupcake *surprise* party at my mansion for the New London Girls Dance Team.

22 girls who had just found out they were on the dance team.  Their coach surprised them with a trip here ♥. And the girls thought they were going bowling!   I can't even imagine what a  wondrous shock it was when we threw glitter at them and exclaimed, "Welcome to the Cupcake Mansion!" when they walked through the door! ! ! !

my adorable assistant Billie who helped me throw glitter on the girls!

I taught them how to make rainbow cupcakes and how to make edible gems out of delights like m&ms, peanut butter cups, and Hershey kisses. ♥  I even prepared 22 edible words and ballet slippers out of pink candy melts so their cupcake could dance!

Some of their creations ♥

While I was teaching cupcakes in one room, my fairy godmother (Jane) taught the girls how to make ribbon headbands that they could wear.  (So the ribbons would move with the girls when they danced)!  

♥

An adorable dance team/exchange student from Germany exclaimed the cutest thing ever: "I want to take my cupcake back to Germany!

There was one rule at this party.

If you stepped on the rug in front of the counter of goodies..(inevitable!!) you absolutely had to DANCE ♥♥♥!!

I asked the girls to make up a "cupcake dance".  As I recall it involved a mixer..and the motion of eating a cupcake ♥ Hmm I am thinking cupcake dance flash mob in the near future?! Or a visit from Ellen Degeneres (it is STILL my goal to dance with her and eat a red velvet vegan cupcake with her and her audience)!

Glitter, smiles, sugar, music, dance, cupcakes.

"A laugh is a smile that bursts."

..or so I have heard!:

Sparkly tutus!

Our "toast" to sparkly marshmallows and hot cocoa.

My Irish fairy godmother's sparkly marshmallow and hot cocoa toast:

An Irish Toast to Liars, Cheaters & Stealers:

May you lie your life down for family and friends,

May you cheat death & dishonor at every chance

And may you steal the hearts of those you love all life long.

The girls enchanted by her Irish toast ♥.

During the party I stepped back for a second to watch everything happening. And that was just it. This dream of a cupcake mission was "happening."  My glittery cupcake heart was being shared with 22 amazing girls.    

Their completed cupcakes on the cupcake skirt♥

Wrapped up in that little cupcake liner was a memory of a lifetime. D

Learning all about Amanda Cupcake ♥ on my wall of fame :)

Maybe you should make a wall of fame.

It really highlights all the wonderful people & experiences you meet when you take on life's adventures, no matter what they are!    Do you have any idea of how rewarding it is to use all your seconds and minutes in life to do good for the world..and then sit back and watch it all unfold!? (or perhaps,  watch it dance in this case). 

My Summer of Love......

I never would have guessed that this would be my "Summer of Love".

In the beginning of the summer, I was facing a pretty harsh breakup. One of my status updates on my personal Facebook back in May said something like, "I need someone to glitterize my heart." Sadface.

Red Velvet Cupcake Hug for me?! :(

(I made this for a friend, but I totally could have used one myself!)

 

Well ladies and gents, you better be careful what you wish for.

My heart was glitterized this summer.

Maybe not by my own summer fling or a rebound romance..

Instead my cupcake heart was invited to attend a wedding as a cupcake caterer almost every weekend this summer!

(I was even in my friend's wedding. I'm one of these ladies here and it's pretty easy to tell which one I am. Look for the glittery heart).

(awesome California photographer btw: Stark Love Photography)

♥

Gradually..with each sweet wedding tale... my heart began to patch itself up.  It's almost September now, and I feel vibrant, alive, and glittery again.  Like my heart never lost it's sparkle. (hmm just in time for some Hologram Gold Fall sparkly-ness, perhaps)?

Thank you to each unique wedding I attended. I have witnessed how much love is out there in the world. It seems there is quite possibly enough love out there left for me ♥.

This blog entry and my next few blogs are going to be dedicated to the couples of my summer that glitterized my heart again.

So I want to say a thank you to...

Sarah and Joey
for sprinkling my heart with their sparkles.

(photos of Joey/Sarah courtesy of DanWoolf photographer extraordinaire)

 

 

My description of these two: Fun, Young, Insanely Sweet. When I had my first consult with them I thought.."Wow, these two are so lucky that they have found a best friend in each other."  It's just the vibe that I got from them, and I don't think my instincts were wrong ♥.

  

Joey and Sarah were married at *the* Lambeau Field in June.♥

 

This was my entrance to Lambeau Field. I had to load the wedding cake and cupcakes here to cart it up into a top secret elevator.  I felt like a cupcake spy. ♥ The security guard guy even gave me a tour of the stadium VIP status!

 

The Lime Green, Pink and Navy Blue Three Tier Wedding Cake made it safely. Phew. 

 

I love that the bride & groom requested Funfetti as the flavor of their wedding cake.  I thought adding giant, oversized tissue paper flowers would be way more "fun" and celebratory than the typical fondant perfection wedding flowers ♥.

 

 

 

Cupcakes to match the cake ♥

(Americolor Gel Colors: Electric Blue, Electric Pink, Electric Green)

 

Flavor: Cocktail Cupcakes (Lime Margarita).

 

Wedded Bliss In a Cupcake ♥.

A quote from my instagram, "Reminds me of the cosmos."

 

Sarah's request: Multi-colored swirls of Frosting that make the cupcakes look like they jumped out of a Dr. Seuss book!

 

Sparkly Blueberry Velvet Cake Pops.  The flavor even matches their wedding colors!

 

Joey's fave:  Banana Chocolate Peanut Butter ♥

 

What bride doesn't love a pink sparkly cake pop?  I wonder if Sarah and Joey exchanged sparkles in their kisses ♥

 

I bet some of the cupcake sparkles and/or crumbs I delivered for Joey & Sarah are still lingering in the Lambeau Field breeze. :)  Hooray for touchdowns. ♥

 

Joey and Sarah..this is the glitter you left lingering on my heart---a quote by Julia Child: