Going on week four of surgery! Admittedly the field of surgery hasn’t really grown on me, but the day-to-day is 100x better thanks to my rotation teammates, Cat, Liz, and Elsa! I’ve recently started baking cupcakes for people’s birthdays and originally had crafted these healthier blueberry lemon yogurt cupcakes for a sweets-conscious resident on my IM rotation. Coincidentally, Elsa’s favorite cake flavor is lemon/citrus, and she just celebrated her birthday, so I couldn’t not whip up another batch for work tomorrow. Happy belated b-day Elsa!

Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cake (adapted from our Lemon Yogurt Cake recipe)

• 1 1/2 cups (180g) flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• Zest of 2 lemons, divided
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 4 oz. blueberries, divided

For the frosting

• 6 tbsp butter, softened
• 2 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups (240g) powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300F.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt).
3. In a large bowl, combine the sugar and zest of one lemon; rub the two together until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the rest of the wet ingredients (lemon juice, yogurt, milk, eggs, oil, vanilla) and mix until well combined. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
4. Fill wells of a lined cupcake pan with batter so they are 3/4 full (You will have extra batter). Press three blueberries into each well of batter till they are just submerged. Bake for 12min at 300F and then 12min more at 350F or till a toothpick comes out clean. (Baking at two temperatures helps this cake to rise evenly.) Let cakes cool completely.
5. For the frosting, beat together butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt on low speed till the ingredients come together. Then beat on high speed for 3-5min or till pale and fluffy. Pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes.
6. To decorate, top with blueberries and lemon zest.