Cranberry Cupcakes with White Chocolate Buttercream
These cranberry cupcakes are filled with tangy cranberry sauce and topped with fluffy white chocolate buttercream and then garnished with sugared cranberries and rosemary for festive, Christmas cupcakes!
If you don't have leftover cranberry sauce, use this recipe! But otherwise just use what you have!
Add all of the filling ingredients to a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until the cranberries begin to split open. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.
Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl and chill until ready to use. Make sure the cranberry sauce is fully cooled before assembling the cupcakes.
Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 12 cup cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
Finely chop the fresh rosemary and add to the granulated sugar. Then use your fingers to gently massage the rosemary into the sugar. [This is optional, but helps infuse the oils into the sugar.]
Using a stand or hand mixer, cream together the softened butter and rosemary sugar until smooth and creamy.
Then mix in the eggs and vanilla until fully incorporated.
Whisk the cake flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
Stir in about half of the flour mixture. Then mix in the yogurt and the rest of the flour mixture and mix until fully combined. The batter will be thick.
Pour about ¼ cup of batter into each cupcake liner (they should be about halfway full). Bake at 350°F for 18-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. Let the rosemary vanilla cupcakes cool completely before filling and frosting.
Use a cupcake corer to remove the center of each cupcake, then fill with 1-2 teaspoons of cranberry sauce.
White Chocolate Buttercream
Melt the white chocolate and let cool almost to room temperature. It should be melted but cool to the touch. I prefer to melt the chocolate in the microwave in intervals of 20 seconds, stirring each time.
In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and powdered sugar together until smooth.
Set the mixer to low speed and slowly drizzle in the melted white chocolate until it's fully incorporated into the buttercream. Then beat on high speed for 3-4 minutes or until the buttercream is super light and fluffy.
If the frosting in too thick, add in 1-2 teaspoons of cream at a time to thin it out a bit.
Frost the filled cranberry cupcakes with white chocolate buttercream and then garnish with sugared cranberries and rosemary!
Notes
These cupcakes will last in the fridge for up to 3 days. However, they taste best when served at room temperature! I like to let them sit at room temperature for about an hour before serving. I recommend storing without the sugared cranberries/rosemary and adding just before serving.