White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

The base for these cupcakes is a moist and fluffy cake. It's made with vegetable oil and not butter which creates a really moist cake that stays fresh for days. It's the perfect texture cake to go with the sweet white chocolate chips and juicy raspberry filling.

The batter is quite thin so the chocolate chips are tossed in a little flour first to stop them from sinking too much. The raspberries are added after most of the batter is in the cupcake liners.

The raspberries are gently pressed into some of the cupcake batter once it's already in the paper liners. Then they're topped with the remaining batter. This ensures the raspberries keep their shape and don't bleed into the batter. The raspberry flavors come out much more when you bite into a whole raspberry.

White chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream

Swiss meringue buttercream (SMBC) is made by gently cooking egg whites and sugar in a double boiler until the sugar has melted. The mixture is then whipped into a stiff meringue. Next, lots of room temperature butter is whisked into the meringue, a little at a time, until the mixture comes together into a cloud of delicious frosting. 

Lastly melted and cooled white chocolate is beaten in until the frosting is thick and silky.

Swiss buttercream can seem like a tricky frosting to make as there are some things that can go a little wrong. The good thing is, that there is usually an easy fix for all of the issues! Read this chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream guide for more details.

The ingredients

You'll find all the ingredient amounts for this raspberry white chocolate cupcakes recipe in the printable recipe card at the end of this post. This is just a rundown of the ingredients. You will need -

Cupcakes

• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Large eggs
• Granulated sugar
• Vegetable oil
• Vanilla paste or vanilla extract
• Milk
• Lemon juice
• Fresh or frozen raspberries
• White chocolate chips

White chocolate buttercream frosting (SMBC)

• Egg whites
• Granulated sugar
• Unsalted butter
• White chocolate
• Salt

Equipment

You will need a stand mixer to make the white chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream with a whisk attachment and a paddle attachment.

Method

The cupcakes

Step 1 - Preheat the oven to 350˚F/ 175˚C and place a rack in the center of the oven. Line a 12 muffin tin with 12 paper cupcake cases.

Step 2 - In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set these dry ingredients aside.

Step 3 - In a large bowl add the eggs, sugar, vegetable oil, vanilla, and lemon juice and whisk it well to combine.

Step 4 - Add ⅓ of the flour mixture to the bowl of wet ingredients and stir it through, then add in ⅓ of the milk. Continue this, alternating between milk and flour until it's all combined. Don't overbeat the mixture.

Step 5 - Toss the white chocolate chips in a bowl with about ½ tablespoon of flour to lightly coat them. Fold the chocolate chips into the cupcake batter, leaving behind any excess flour.

Step 6 - Scoop ⅔ of the mixture into the 12 paper cases. Place 4-5 raspberries onto each cupcake and gently press them in a little. Top with the remaining cupcake batter.

Baking

Step 7 - Bake the cupcakes for around 20-24 minutes until golden brown and until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. The tops of cupcakes should spring back when lightly pressed.

Cupcakes with frozen raspberries will need slightly longer baking. Once baked, let the cupcakes cool down completely to room temperature on a wire rack.

White Chocolate SMBC

Eggwhites

Step 1 - Bring a pot of water (with 1 inch of water) to a simmer. 

Step 2 - In the bowl of a stand mixer, add egg whites and granulated sugar. Balance the bowl over this simmering water bath. Whisk continuously as the egg whites warm-up and keep whisking until all the sugar has dissolved or the temperature reads 160°F (71°C) on an instant-thermometer. Don’t stop stirring or some egg whites may overcook on the edges of the bowl. 

Step 3 - Once the sugar has dissolved, place the bowl in your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until a meringue with stiff peaks forms and the meringue has cooled down to room temperature. When you touch the sides of the bowl they shouldn't feel warm. 

Butter and chocolate

Step 4 - While the egg whites are beating, place the chocolate in a microwave-proof bowl and melt it in the microwave for 20-30 seconds at a time, stirring after each time. Once about ⅔ of the chocolate has melted, remove it from the microwave and stir it to further melt it and combine it. Let the chocolate cool to room temperature.

Step 5 - With the mixer on medium-high speed, feed in a cube of room temperature butter at a time, allowing it to incorporate fully before adding the next cube. At this point, the frosting can suddenly appear split or curdled and look like cottage cheese. Just keep beating the mixture until it comes together into a thick and cohesive buttercream. This can take a lot of beating so don't give up if it doesn't seem to come together - it will. Keep beating it until it no longer looks greasy.

Step 6 - Once the mixture is thick and cohesive, add in the melted chocolate and salt and beat until thick and fluffy.

Step 7 - Switch to the paddle attachment and beat on low speed for 5-10 minutes to remove some of the larger air bubbles in the buttercream.

Frosting the cupcakes

Scoop the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Ensure the cupcakes are completely cooled, then pipe the frosting on top of each cupcake.

Top with crushed freeze-dried raspberries for decoration.