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Blueberry Pie Cupcakes

These delicious blueberry pie cupcakes are made with a warm vanilla/cinnamon cake, stuffed with a blueberry pie filling, and topped with fresh blueberry buttercream. Complete with a mini blueberry pie on top and some crisp pie crust sprinkles. So tasty!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword blueberry, blueberry pie, cupcakes
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 1 hour
Decorating Time 1 hour
Total Time 3 hours
Servings 24 cupcakes

Equipment

  • Traditional size cupcake tin
  • Mini cupcake tin
  • Cupcake liners in regular size
  • Cooling racks 
  • Food processor (a blender can work, too)
  • 2 in circular cookie cutter (or something with a similar diameter, like a thin cup or ring mold)
  • Silicone baking mat
  • Pastry crust cutter (a butter knife can work, too)
  • Melon baller
  • Piping set like this one, or purchase separate piping bags, coupler, and Wilton tips in sizes: 3, 6, 12, 16, 1M 
  • Optional: blue food coloring gel 

Ingredients

Cupcakes

  • 2½ cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • ¾ cups butter, room temp (1½ sticks)
  • 2 eggs, room temp
  • 3 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2 cups milk, room temp

Blueberry Compote (For Mini Pies, Buttercream, and Filling)

  • 2 pints washed, fresh blueberries
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 3 tbsp cornstarch
  • ¼ cup water
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice

Mini Blueberry Pies & Sprinkles

  • 2 pie crusts, home-made or store-bought
  • ¾ cup blueberry compote

Buttercream

  • 1¼ cups butter, room temp (2½ sticks)
  • 4-5 cups powdered sugar
  • ¾ cup blueberry compote
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Filling

  • ¾ cup blueberry compote
  • 1 package gelatin powder
  • ¼ cup water

Instructions

Cupcakes

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two cupcake tins with paper liners.
  • Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Then, set it aside.
  • In a separate bowl, cream together your butter and sugar on medium speed for 1-2 minutes. Add in the eggs, beating after each one, until just combined. Do the same with the vanilla and oil.
  • In alternating turns, add about a third of the dry mixture and a third of the milk into the bowl with the eggs and sugar. Mix the ingredients by hand until they just begin to come together. Then, repeat the process again, twice, until all of the ingredients are incorporated. For the softest cake result, mix as gently and as little as necessary for everything to come together.
  • Next, use an ice cream scooper or a measuring cup to portion the cupcake batter into the wells of the cupcake tin. Fill them 2/3 of the way full. Then, bake in your preheated oven for 20 minutes. Test with a toothpick after the timer is up, taking care not to overbake the cupcakes.
  • Let the cupcakes cool in the tin for 5 minutes, and then carefully remove them to a cooling rack. Be sure to allow the cupcakes time to fully cool before starting to decorate them.

Blueberry Compote (For Mini Pies, Buttercream, and Filling)

  • Place the blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, and water in a pan and heat it over medium.
  • Let the mixture boil, gently breaking the blueberries with a whisk or a potato masher.
  • Once the mixture is bubbly and visually starting to thicken, add the lemon juice and butter until melted and combined. Then, add the mixture to a food processor and puree the mixture until it is smooth.
  • Spoon about a third of the mixture into two separate bowls each and let it cool. With the remaining third, add it back to the stove and continue to let the mixture simmer and reduce by about half. This way, we will make a more potent blueberry reduction for flavoring the buttercream, so as not to ruin the consistency. Once the mixture has reduced, let it come to room temperature before adding to the buttercream.

Mini Blueberry Pies & Sprinkles

  • Using your cookie cutter, cut out 24 circles of pie crust. Place each piece of crust into the wells of the mini muffin tin, pressing down gently to form a pie crust shape.
  • Use a small kitchen spoon to add some of the portioned-out blueberry compote to each of the mini pies. Be careful not to overfill the wells, otherwise, the bubbling of the compote in the oven could cause overflow. Add the remaining blueberry compote to the other separated bowl to use later.
  • Then, with your pastry wheel, cut out thin strips of pie crust. Cut them again, creating inch-long pieces. For each pie, you will create a lattice out of four, inch-long pieces. Form the pie crust pieces into a "hashtag" sign, making sure that one edge of each is under its neighboring crust, and one edge of each is overlapping. (Think of the box fold, where the flaps of a box all nestle into each other.) Then, add the formed lattice to the top of the mini pie, and repeat.
  • Bake the mini pies in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until the pie crust is golden brown.
  • With the remaining pie crust, use the small, circular piping tips to cut out tiny circle "sprinkles." Lay these pieces onto some parchment paper, and bake for 5-7 minutes, or until golden brown.
  • Allow the mini pies and sprinkles to cool before adding them to the cupcakes.

Buttercream

  • Beat the butter for a few seconds to mix the sticks together. Then, cup by cup, add in the powdered sugar, scraping the bowl in between each addition.
  • Then, pour in the vanilla.
  • Remove about a ½ cup of the white buttercream, add it to a pastry bag, and set it aside. We will use this as a garnish to replicate whipped cream on top of the mini pies.
  • Then, slowly stream the room temperature blueberry reduction into the remaining buttercream, mixing to combine. At this point, if you'd like, you can enhance the buttercream with some blue food coloring gel, too.

Filling

  • Dump your package of gelatin into about a ¼ of cold water. Then, let it sit for about 5 minutes to bloom.
  • Once the gelatin is hardened, add the whole mixture to the remaining blueberry compote. Stir it all together thoroughly to dissolve the gelatin pieces. Then, place this in the refrigerator or freezer for a few minutes to solidify. It won't exactly turn into a block of jello, but it will resemble the texture. If some areas appear too "jello-y," just give the whole bowl a little mix.

Putting The Blueberry Pie Cupcakes Together

  • Use a melon baller (I prefer these to cupcake corers) to remove the middle section from each cupcake. Try to do so in one swift motion, forming a leftover little "ball" of cupcake. Save these scraps in a bowl, as we will reuse them.
  • Spoon some of the gelled blueberry compote into the center of each cupcake to fill it. Then, place some of the cored cake on top. You want this piece of cake to protrude from the top, as it will create the appearance of a pretty, dramatic mound of buttercream on top, without actually going overboard on the sugar - LOL.
  • With your blueberry-flavored buttercream, pipe a swirl or two around and over the top of the cupcake.
  • Add a mini blueberry pie to the top of each cupcake.
  • Then, top each mini pie with a tiny rosette of the white buttercream.
  • Finally, add the pie crust sprinkles to the buttercream.

Notes

These cupcakes are best served the day of or the day after baking but can keep for up to three days. Store them covered, at room temperature, and out of direct sunlight.