Raspberry Cupcakes

A raspberry cupcake with frosting on a rack.

5 from 11 votes

These raspberry cupcakes are soft, fresh tasting, and perfectly sweet! Topped with white chocolate buttercream frosting, they're the perfect summer or Valentine's Day dessert.

Prep Time30

Cook Time21

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings: cupcakes

Calories: 522kcal

Author: Natalie

Equipment

Ingredients

Raspberry Cupcakes

1¾ cups cake flour use cake flour or all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
⅓ cup sour cream room temperature
¾ cup raspberries fresh, plus more raspberries for decoration

White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

6 ounces white chocolate finely chopped
1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar sifted
3 teaspoons heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
⅛ teaspoon salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Raspberry Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line muffin pan with paper liners.
In a small bowl, toss to coat the raspberries with 1 tablespoon of the flour. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk to combine the rest of the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl using a hand held mixer cream the butter and sugar for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
Mix in the eggs one at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and mix one more minute on medium high speed.
Stir in half the dry ingredients with a spatula. Stir in the sour cream. Stir in the remaining dry ingredients. Gently fold in the raspberries.
Use a 1/4 cup measure or an ice cream scoop to scoop the batter and evenly fill the liners 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full. You might have a little extra batter leftover, just discard it. Don't overfill the muffin pan.
Bake for 17-21 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center. Remove from oven. Cool cupcakes in tin for ten minutes then remove and transfer them to a cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.

White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Place the chopped white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave 25 seconds. Stir well. Microwave again in 15 second increments, stirring in between until completely melted. (Make sure the chocolate is completely melted or else you'll end up with lumps in the frosting). Allow to cool 15-20 minutes.
While the white chocolate cools, sift the powdered sugar then cream the butter. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer mixer for about 1 minute til creamy and combined. Turn the mixer to low and slowly mix in the powdered sugar followed by the melted, cooled white chocolate. Turn the mixer to medium speed and beat for 1 more minute, until creamy. Add 3 tablespoons of heavy cream, the vanilla extract and salt. If frosting is too thick, add another tablespoon of cream. If it's too thin, add a little extra powdered sugar.
Pipe or frost the cupcakes as you like. Top with a sprinkle of freeze dried raspberry powder and/or a fresh raspberry, if you like.

Notes

Sour Cream: Substitute buttermilk or full fat Greek yogurt for the sour cream.

Raspberries: I recommend fresh raspberries, but frozen raspberries can also be used. Do not thaw frozen raspberries. Use them straight from the freezer. Toss the fresh or frozen raspberries in flour before adding to batter. The flour keeps all the berries from sinking to the bottom of the cupcakes while they bake.

Flour: Cake flour helps give these cupcakes their soft, tender texture. If you don't have cake flour, you can make a cake flour substitute. For 1 cup of cake flour, sift together 14 tablespoons (110 grams) all purpose flour with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. You can double this to make 2 cups then measure 1 3/4 cups out of it for this recipe. You can also just use all purpose flour in this recipe. The cupcakes won't be as tender, but they'll still be delicious.

Batter: You might have a little extra batter leftover, just discard it. Don't overfill the muffin pan.

White Chocolate: Use quality pure white chocolate baking bars. These can be found in the baking aisle. Chop chocolate finely to help chocolate melt evenly. I don't recommend using white chocolate chips.

Decorating: I like to dust my frosted cupcakes with freeze dried raspberry powder. This is optional. I used a Wilton 6B tip to frost mine.

Storage: Store these unfrosted cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days. Store frosted cupcakes in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Freeze unfrosted cupcakes in an airtight for up to 2 months. Defrost in the refrigerator or at room temperature.

Nutrition Information: The nutrition information provided is an estimate. The calorie accuracy is not guaranteed.

Nutrition