These delicious Blackberry and Pear Cupcakes make great use of autumnal fruits. Making a refreshing change to the traditional blackberry and apple pairing, these cupcakes are filled with a homemade blackberry and pear jam, and topped with an easy mascarpone and white chocolate frosting, a drizzle of seasonal coulis and a fresh blackberry to decorate.
We all know how great blackberry and apple is together but why not ring the changes and team those seasonal blackberries with pears!
Having a few pears in the fruit bowl, which admittedly had seen better days, seemed the perfect opportunity to try out a different flavour combination to the classic blackberry and apple. Although I'm a huge fan of the blackberry and apple combo, I was looking forward to using the plump blackberries with pears instead.
The blackberry and pear combination turned out to be as delicious together as blackberry and apple, and I can imagine would make a lovely alternative to seasonal crumbles, pies and cobblers this autumn.
And of course blackberry jam is another great way of using these autumnal fruits.
These blackberry and pear cupcakes conceal a delicious homemade blackberry and pear jam. Although the quantities in the printable recipe below produces twice the quantity of jam needed for this batch of cupcakes, the leftovers keep well in an airtight container and will be delicious spread over your morning round of toast or even used in another bake!
A simple mascarpone and white chocolate frosting was swirled on top of these fruity cupcakes. The sweetness of the frosting balanced beautifully with the fruity jam in much the same way as raspberry does with white chocolate.
Mascarpone and white chocolate frosting is incredibly easy to make, quicker in fact than a standard buttercream. It makes a lovely change too!
For more recipes using blackberries check out these 15 Blackberry Recipes
How to make Blackberry & Pear Cupcakes with a Mascarpone & White Chocolate Frosting
📖 Recipe
Blackberry & Pear Cupcakes
Equipment
- 8 Muffin sized cupcake cases
- muffin tin
- Piping bag fitted with large star nozzle
Ingredients
For the Frosting
- 250 g mascarpone (9oz)
- 250 g white chocolate (9oz)
For the Jam
- 1 - 2 pears about 200g (7oz)
- 200 g blackberries (7oz) + 8 extra for decorating
- 150 ml water (¼pt)
- 75 g sugar (3oz)
- 1 lemon juice of
For the Cupcakes
- 125 g butter (4oz) softened
- 125 g golden caster sugar (4oz)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten (see notes a & b below)
- 125 g self-raising flour (4oz)
- 1 - 2 tablespoon milk
Instructions
To make the frosting
- Break the white chocolate into small pieces and place in a heatproof bowl. Create a bain marie by resting the bowl over a pan containing a small amount of water, ensuring the base of the bowl doesn't touch the water. Place the bain marie over a medium heat on the hob. Allow the chocolate to melt, stirring it regularly with a spatula. Remove from the heat once it has almost melted, the residual heat with continue melting any very small pieces of solid chocolate. Set aside to cool for 4 or 5 minutes.
- Tip the mascarpone into a bowl. Use a metal spoon to briefly stir it to soften, avoid over stirring. Pour in the cooled melted white chocolate. Mix the mascarpone mixture well. Cover and place in the fridge to firm up for about two hours.
To make the blackberry & pear jam.
- Peel, core and chop the pears. Place into a good sized pan. Add the cleaned blackberries (reserving 8 for decoration), sugar and water. Set the pan on the hob over a medium heat. Stir regularly allowing the sugar to dissolve as the mixture heats through. Add the lemon juice. Stir through. Continue to cook the jam remembering to stir it regularly.
- Once the jam starts to reduce and thicken slightly remove 2 or 3 tablespoon of liquid to use as a coulis for the decorated cupcakes (place in a bowl and set aside).
- Place a tea plate into the fridge, once cold spoon a small amount of hot jam onto the plate. Place back into the fridge for a couple of minutes and turn off the heat under the pan. Remove the plate from the fridge and gently run your little finger along the plate until it touches the jam. If the jam wrinkles it is ready. Decant into a clean bowl and set aside to cool. If it's not ready boil for a couple more minutes and retest in the same way.
To make the cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 190℃ (170℃ fan)/375°F/gas mark Place the muffin sized cases into the muffin tray.
- Place the soft butter and sugar into a good sized bowl and beat together with a wooden spoon or electric beaters until very pale and fluffy. Add the salt and vanilla extract and beat again to combine.
- Gradually add the beaten egg a little at a time, beating well after each addition, (see note b below). Sieve the flour into the mixture. Use a spatula, large metal spoon to fold this into the batter with 1 tablespoon of milk. Ensure you have a nice dropping consistency. Add a little more milk if necessary.
- Using a spoon, fill the cases with the batter mixture. You're aiming for them to be half to two-thirds full. Place the muffin tray in the centre of the oven and bake for 20 - 23 minutes. You may need to rotate the tray after 15 minutes of baking. Once baked, remove from the oven and muffin tray and place onto a cooling rack.
To Complete
- Once the cupcakes and jam have completely cooled begin to decorate them. Use a small paring knife to cut a cone from the top of each cupcake. (Alternatively use the wide end of a large metal piping nozzle and twist to remove a plug of sponge.) Use the tines of a fork to gently remove a little more sponge if necessary. Add one or two teaspoons of blackberry & pear jam mixture. Avoid over filling.
- Fit a large star nozzle to a piping bag. Half fill the bag with frosting. Pipe a swirl of frosting on top of the cupcakes. (You will need to refill the piping bag at some point). Complete the cupcakes by placing one of the reserved blackberries on top of the frosting and drizzling a little of the reserved coulis over the top. Enjoy!
Notes
Cooks Tips
When making the cupcake batter, consider weighing the cracked eggs first to ensure the batter has equal weight of butter, sugar, flour and eggs. Simply weigh the butter, sugar and flour to the same weight as the eggs. Of course the value may be slightly different to the 115g listed in the ingredients above.Consider warming your lightly beaten eggs over a bain marie especially if they feel particularly cold. Warm them until they feel lukewarm. This should help prevent the batter from curdling and produce a better cupcake sponge.For more tips on making cakes using this creaming method see how to make a perfect Victoria sandwich Use a shop bought blackberry jam if you prefer. Slacken a little of the jam with a a drop or two of water to create the coulis suitable for drizzling over the finished cupcakes.Store
Keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator or a cool place for up to 3 daysNot suitable for freezingNutrition
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Kat (The Baking Explorer) says
They look absolutely beautiful
Sylvie says
I love the combination of pear and blackberry, such an original association! These cupcakes look absolutely delicious 🙂
Cat | Curly's Cooking says
This look so pretty and I love the sound of the flavours.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Thanks Cat
helen says
Those are some gorgeous looking cupcakes Angela - and your sponge is so neat & even!
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain says
Aw thankyou so much Helen 🙂
Angela x
Corina Blum says
These look gorgeous! Using pear is a nice change from apple and I just love the sound of the mascarpone and white chocolate frosting. I think I'd be eating it off the spoon before I'd finished decorating! Thanks so much for sharing them with #CookOnceEatTwice x
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain says
Thankyou Corina 🙂 The pears really did make a lovely change - and a great tasty way to use some up that were languishing in the fruit bowl looking very unloved! Haha, yes it was very tempting to just eating the frosting straight from the bowl 😉
Angela x
Deepika|TheLoveOfCakes says
Gorgeous pictures Angela!! And I love the flavors! That fresh Blackberry and pear jam, creamy white chocolate and mascarpone frosting, everything sounds too delicious 🙂
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain says
Thankyou Deepika 🙂 I'm making some more of the blackberry & pear jam today - it was just so scrummy!
Angela x
Jenny-Apply to Face blog says
Elegant isn't the word Angela!What beautiful pics...the Downton Abbey of fairy cakes!Lush flavour combo too.Outstanding!xx
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain says
Aw thankyou Jenny, you are lovely 🙂
Angela x
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain says
They go together so well Kirsty, so yummy 🙂 In fact I'm planning another bake with the same pairings because it works together so well 🙂
Angela x
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain says
aw thankyou Jacqui, that's so lovely of you 🙂
Angela x
Jenny says
these look gorgeous Angela. I have to admit I always forget about paring (*ahem) up pear and blackberries in a cake, as I usually opt for apples instead. x
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain says
Thankyou Jenny, I think most people seem to automatically think of blackberry and apple when they've been foraging, but they work with pears so well too 🙂
Angela x
Jennifer @ Because Food Is Love says
Beautiful pictures! And I love the flavor combinations in these cupcakes. Mascarpone and white chocolate sounds so much better than traditional buttercream frosting! 🙂 I also like that you chose blackberries. I rarely buy them because I'm the only one in my family that enjoys blackberries, but I bet I could get my family to eat them if I made cupcakes like these. 🙂
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain says
Aw thankyou Jennifer 🙂 Ooh that mascarpone and white chocolate frosting is so yummy! You're right, it does make a lovely change to the usual buttercream! You could certainly try your family with the blackberry jam in the middle, perhaps leave the whole blackberry off the top though if they're not fans of that fruit. The blackberry and pear jam is so lovely and tasty, and a lovely surprise when you get to the centre of the cupcake 😀
Angela x