Raspberry Cupcakes

These raspberry cupcakes are soft, fluffy, and filled with bursts of raspberry flavor. They're topped with a creamy raspberry frosting and perfect for any occasion!

I love cupcakes! You can never go wrong with a classic Vanilla Cupcake or if I'm craving chocolate, I love making Chocolate Orange Cupcakes. But once in a while, when I'm feeling fancy and craving fresh, summery flavors, raspberry cupcakes just hit the spot.

I love this raspberry cupcake recipe because it works for so many occasions. It's perfect for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, baby showers, bridal showers, birthdays, Fourth of July...did I forget any others?! So let's make them!

Why These Raspberry Cupcakes Work

• These cupcakes use fresh raspberries or frozen fresh raspberries, so they can be made year round, not just when raspberries are in season!
• The cupcakes are naturally flavored and topped with a creamy raspberry buttercream made from real raspberries.
• This recipe has been tested to work with either dairy free ingredients or regular dairy ingredients

Ingredient Notes

I don't recommend any substitutions to most of the ingredients in this recipe, as it will affect the texture of the cupcakes, but here are a few notes about the ingredients:

• Butter: You can use regular unsalted butter or dairy free butter for both the cupcakes and the buttercream
• Milk: I like to use unsweetened soy milk, but you can use any dairy free milk that you have on hand or regular dairy milk
• Raspberries: These cupcakes should be made with frozen raspberries, but if you only have fresh raspberries, you can freeze before making the cupcakes so that they don't bleed into the batter. For the buttercream, fresh raspberries work great, or you can thaw your frozen raspberries so that they can be easily pureed. You can also use freeze-dried raspberries in the buttercream.
• Vegetable Shortening: This helps keep the buttercream more firm, which is especially helpful if you are using vegan butter. If you prefer not to use shortening, you can replace this with regular butter but you may have to play around with the consistency of the buttercream.

Step by Step Instructions

STEP ONE: Preheat the oven to 350°F, then combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set it aside for later. In the bowl of a standing mixer or handheld mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light in color and fluffy (1-2 minutes).

STEP TWO: Beat in the two eggs and egg white then add in the vanilla extract and the milk.

STEP THREE: Add the dry ingredients into the batter and mix it all together - careful not to overmix! The batter will be thick.

STEP FOUR: Remove the raspberries from the freezer and toss them with 1 tablespoon of flour in a small bowl. This step helps ensure the raspberries don't sink to the bottom of the cupcakes.

STEP FIVE: For bright pops of colour like in the pictures, don't fold the raspberries directly into the batter. First, scoop the batter into the muffin liners until they are half way full, then gently push 3-5 raspberries into each one. (Alternatively, you can fold them in very gently so that the color doesn't bleed into the cupcake batter)

STEP SIX: Bake for 16-22 minutes. You'll know they're ready when a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out completely clean! Let the cupcakes cool completely while you make the buttercream.

STEP SEVEN: Mix the thawed or fresh raspberries in a blender or food processor until they become a puree.

STEP EIGHT: Add the raspberry puree to a small saucepan and bring it to a boil on medium heat.

STEP NINE: Reduce the heat to low/simmer and stir every few minutes until there is about half as much raspberry puree as there was in the beginning. This could take anywhere from 5-15 minutes.

STEP TEN: To remove the seeds, pour the raspberry puree into a bowl through a mesh strainer, pushing it through the strainer with a spoon. You might have to scrape the raspberry puree off of the underside of the strainer. You'll have around 4 tablespoon of puree.

STEP ELEVEN: While the puree is cooling, beat the butter and vegetable shortening in a mixing bowl until they're fully combined.

STEP TWELVE: Beat in the puree, then add in the powdered sugar a little bit at a time. Continue adding powdered sugar until the buttercream reaches your desired consistency.

Expert Tips

• Properly measure your flour - Over-measuring your flour will lead to dry cupcakes, which is why I highly recommend a $15 kitchen scale. If you don't have one, use the fluff, scoop, and level method to measure your flour. Scooping the flour right out of the bag using a measuring cup will result in too much flour!
• Careful not to over-mix - When making the cupcakes, the dry ingredients should be mixed into the wet ingredients only until just combined. This is key to getting fluffy cupcakes!
• Fill the liners only to halfway - It's going to look like not enough cupcake batter, but filling the liners halfway prevents the batter from overflowing over the top.
• Optional: Don't fold the raspberries directly into the batter - I think the cupcakes look extra pretty when there aren't streaks of blue/purple color throughout. It takes a few more minutes, but manually pushing a few raspberries into the batter after it's been scooped into the liners (instead of folding all the berries in before) will give you cupcakes just like in the pictures!
• Refrigerate the buttercream before frosting the cupcakes - This helps it to firm up quite a bit so that it's easier to work with. Refrigerate for 20 minutes at least or even overnight.

Storage and Freezing Instructions

The frosted cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Storing the cupcakes in the fridge will dry them out so I don't recommend that.

These cupcakes can be frozen for up to 2 months. Wrap the unfrosted cupcakes individually in plastic wrap then put them all in an airtight freezer bag. To defrost, just remove them from the freezer, unwrap each one and place them on a cooling rack at room temperature.

The vegan raspberry buttercream can be frozen in an airtight container as well - then thaw it in the refrigerator and mix it with your beater again to bring back the fluffiness!

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MORE CUPCAKE RECIPES YOU'LL LOVE

• Chocolate Orange Cupcakes
• Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes
• Vanilla Cupcakes

If you make this recipe, let me know how it went in the comments, I’d love to hear from you! You can also tag me in your picture on Instagram or Facebook so I can check it out!

The calorie information provided for this recipe is an estimate. The accuracy of the calories listed is not guaranteed.