Blueberry Fields – White blueberry cupcakes and blueberry frosting

Blueberry Fields is the name of one of the off-piste powder snow stashes at the Hanazono ski area on Mt Niseko-Annupuri in Hokkaido, Japan. The snow there is softer than whipped cream, your skis float through it as you snake between the trees… It’s a little bit of skiing Paradise.

I don’t know if blueberries grow there or not in summer, but it’s a cold climate island so I like to think that they do. There’s also an area called Strawberry Fields, which brings to mind the Beatles song.

Blueberry Fields doesn’t have a song… So I thought I would commemorate it with some cupcakes.

I chose to use a white cake base for my blueberry cupcakes. Not everybody knows that you can make amazing cake with just egg whites (other than angel food cake that is). Egg white cake is really lovely, pale and soft crumb with a mild but still buttery flavour, and its a great thing to make if your freezer, like mine, gets full of egg whites! This cake goes together with blueberries like Hokkaido goes with powder snow. The blueberries sink a little in the mixture, leaving a denser jammy layer with a float of fluffy white cake above.

For the topping, a purple cloud of blueberry frosting made with puréed blueberries, the sweetness offset by a hint of lemon.

Top with a sprinkle of edible glitter and suddenly you are in a magical wonderland – Blueberry Fields. Enjoy!

125g unsalted butter, softened

2 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup milk

4 egg whites

1 1/2 cups blueberries (preferably fresh)

Combine all ingredients except egg whites and blueberries and beat in low speed until well combined. Add egg whites, increase speed of mixer to full speed, beat about two minutes until the mixture is very pale and smooth.

Fold in blueberries.

Spoon mixture into muffin cases that have been greased with canola spray.

Bake cupcakes at 175 degrees Celsius 25 minutes or until golden and cakes have stopped whispering.

Cool on a wire rack.

When cold, place frosting in a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle, and frost cupcakes, allowing about two tablespoons of frosting per cupcake.

125 g unsalted butter, softened

4 cups icing sugar

1/2 cup frozen blueberries, defrosted and puréed

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp lemon oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp vodka

Cream butter, blueberries and half the sugar. Add flavourings and the remainder of the sugar, beat until light and fluffy. Add lemon juice and vodka, beat until very fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.