Raspberry Cupcakes with Lemon and Chocolate: A Vere Inspired Cupcake

Raspberry cupcakes with lemon and chocolate wrap up Vere week. Start back on Part I to read all of the Vere week posts.

The details of the raspberry cupcakes are after the break.

The Raspberry Cupcake Inspiration

The raspberry cupcake was based off of Vere's raspberry lemon organic dark chocolate bar. When Kathy first sent me the sample bar, I could barely taste the raspberries. However, when she sent me the full-sized bar, I could taste the berries and I was in love. First, you taste the chocolate, then the raspberries, and then it finishes with the lemon. The flavor combination was incredible.

I wanted a cupcake that would do the same thing!

Choosing the Raspberry Cupcake Recipe

Bon Appetit recently featured a lemon raspberry cupcake. It looked great, but it used raspberry jam. I wanted to use fresh raspberries.

I ended up turning to the now-retired-from-blogging but still ever useful Chockylit. She had a recipe for raspberry ricotta almond cupcakes that sounded amazing. Of course, modifications would need to be made - most notably, I used no ricotta and I added lemon extract and chocolate. I'm sure my cupcake tasted nothing like hers, however I must give credit where credit is due. Her recipe got me going in the right direction.

What's Happening On Top of Those Raspberry Cupcakes?

To accentuate the lemon flavor on the raspberry cupcakes, I baked some lemon cookie dough (well, it's not really cookie dough as you'll see later, but close enough) on top of some of the cupcakes. I made the cupcakes three ways:

1. With cookies in cookie shape. Unlike the cookie on the snickerdoodle cupcakes, this one kept its shape and did not meld into the cupcake. It has a completely different taste and texture from the cupcake. It almost looks like I just put the cookie on top of the cupcake, but it's actually baked on. It was topped with a small swirl of chocolate whipped cream and a fresh raspberry.
2. Crumbles of cookie dough on top. This cupcake kind was also topped with the chocolate whipped cream and raspberry combo.
3. No cookie dough. I simply covered the top with lots of chocolate whipped cream and of course the fresh raspberry.

How'd the Raspberry Cupcakes Taste?

I was excited that the raspberry cupcakes left me with a similar experience to the chocolate bar. I could taste all three flavors (raspberry, lemon, and chocolate) at different times, but also the wonderful combination of them together. The cupcakes were extraordinarily moist, but not so much as to be messy.

Check back for additional tasting notes and Bride and Groom 2.0's thoughts. Things have been vere busy and they haven't been able to taste the cupcakes yet.

Update: People raved and drooled over these cupcakes. They were a huge hit! Everyone loved their moistness and complex flavor. One friend and frequent taster even said that if it were his wedding, he would choose these!

Everyone, however, does not include Bride and Groom 2.0 and the friend that tasted with them. Bride and Groom 2.0 thought they were too dense and not moist enough. I will not judge their comments, but note my comments above about everyone else and moisture. Bride and Groom 2.0 also didn't like the texture of the raspberry seeds. That's definitely understandable. It's not for everyone. Groom 2.0 was, however, excited about the chocolate bits in the cake: "Oooh - chocolate bits!" Lastly, Bride and Groom 2.0 both enjoyed the frosting.

The Raspberry Cupcake Recipe

As I noted earlier, the raspberry cupcake recipe was an extreme modification of a recipe by Chockylit:

Makes about 18 cupcakes

• 1 C almond flour
• 1 C sugar
• 1/4 C plain yogurt
• 1/4 C sour cream
• 1/2 C (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 t lemon extract
• 2/3 C flour
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1 C finely chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips
• 1 C raspberries

1. Mix almond flour and sugar.
2. Slowly add yogurt and sour cream.
3. Add butter, one tablespoon at a time.
4. Gradually add the eggs.
5. Add lemon extract.
6. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking powder.
7. Fold in the flour mixture.
8. Fold in the chocolate and raspberries.
9. Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full. These cupcakes will not rise very much. If you want them to be taller, you can fill them ever higher.
10. If you are not putting the lemon cookie topping on the cupcakes, bake at 350 F for 30 minutes or until the top bounces back when touched. If you are putting the lemon cookie topping on the cupcakes, don't put them in the oven yet! After you put the cookie topping on, follow the same baking instructions.

The Lemon Cookie Dough Recipe

The recipe that I used for the lemon cookie dough is actually tart dough from A Treasury of Great Recipes by Vincent Price. I've used this recipe as a pie crust for apple pies since I was a kid. It's a lousy pie crust in that it doesn't roll well at all, but it tastes so good that I just don't care. One of my favorite parts of preparing this recipe is that everything is mixed by hand. Get messy and lick your fingers!

• 1 1/4 C four
• 4 T sugar
• 1 stick (1/2 C) butter, room temperature
• 2 egg yolks
• Grated rind of 1 lemon

1. Put flour on a pastry board or any clean surface.
2. Make a well (basically a hole) in the center of the flour.
3. Put all the other ingredients in the well.
4. Use your hands to work all of the center ingredients into a paste.
5. Knead in the flour.
6. Keep working the dough until you can make it into one big ball.
7. Do with it whatever you want! I made little patties with some of it and laid them directly on the cupcakes before baking. I crumbled some of it over other cupcakes. I still had some left, so I rolled it into little balls and baked them on a cookie sheet at 350 F for 15 minutes.

The Chocolate Whipped Cream Recipe

As you can see from the photos of the cupcakes, on 2/3 of the cupcakes I used vere (will I ever stop spelling it like that?) little frosting. If you want to cover your cupcakes in frosting, be sure to double this recipe.

The picture above is of my frosting staging area. Every time I frost, I use a little test plate to pipe a bit before piping onto my cupcakes. This gives me a chance to play with ideas and get a better feel for the consistency of the frosting.

• 1/2 C heavy whipping cream
• 2 T sugar
• 2 T cocoa powder

1. Beat whipping cream until soft peaks form.
2. Beat in sugar.
3. Beat in cocoa powder.
4. Pipe or spread or just lick the beater.