Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon: Sugar Free
A tasty fruity cupcake with a tart but creamy topping. The colour is quite striking and as the lemon blueberry cupcakes are sugar free, they’re relatively low in calories.
When I borrowed the Primrose Bakery Christmas book out of the library a few weeks ago, I bookmarked several of the recipes. The one for blueberry cupcakes caught my eye, mostly for the fabulously coloured icing. It’s a rare occasion for me to use food dyes, but I do like my food to be colourful. Icing made with natural fruit juice is a win win and even more so with this sugar free version.
Natvia
Natvia is a natural sugar free sweetener that has a similar look and feel to sugar. Even the cardboard packs look like the sort of thing bakers are used to using. It also has the same bulk, which makes it ideal for baking as you can swap the sugar in pretty much any recipe for Natvia.
It’s made in Australia from stevia and erythritol. Both of these come from natural sources and do not harm teeth or give insulin spikes, which makes them suitable for diabetics as well as everyone else. The stevia content is balanced so that its rather distinctive aftertaste is less pronounced than other stevia products I’ve tried. The really big plus of course is that it is calorie free.
Sugar Free Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes
These blueberry cupcakes are very different to my recipe for wild blueberry cupcakes. I made them with a wild blueberry powder rather than the fresh fruit. They also contain white chocolate.
I tinkered with the original Primrose Bakery recipe as I do and made the cakes more lemony as well as a little less sweet. They tasted good with a light moist sponge, but the icing was superb. It was both sweet and sour and very fruity.
I veered off from the original recipe and made a cream cheese version which I shall now be making again and again.
With these sugar-free lemon blueberry cupcakes you can have your cake and eat it, safe in the knowledge that your calorie count is low.
If, however, you’re happy to include sugar, then do a straight swap. Use golden caster sugar instead of the Natvia and icing sugar instead of the Natvia icing.
Other Refined Sugar-Free Cakes You Might Like
- Caramelised pear and honey carob cake (gluten-free)
- Cashew nut butter brownies
- Chocolate coconut cannelloni cake (vegan and gluten-free)
- Italian chestnut cake
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these sugar-free cupcakes with blueberries and lemon, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or tips for making sugar-free cakes?
Please rate the recipe. If you post pictures of your creations on social media, tag me @choclette8 so I can see them.
For more delicious and nutritious recipes follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard or Pinterest. And don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to my weekly newsletter. Or why not join the conversation in our Healthy Vegetarian Whole Food Recipes Facebook Group?
If you’d like more cupcake recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.
Choclette x
Blueberry Cupcakes. PIN IT.
Sugar Free Blueberry Lemon Cupcakes
Ingredients
Blueberry Syrup
- 1 organic lemon zest and juice
- 200 g blueberries keep 12 back for decoration
- 50 g Natvia
Cakes
- 170 g unsalted butter softened
- 200 g Natvia
- 2 large eggs (I used duck eggs)
- 250 g flour (half wholemeal, half plain)
- 1 tsp baking powder
Blueberry Icing
- 50 g butter softened
- 50 g Natvia icing
- 100 g full fat cream cheese
Instructions
- Grate the lemon zest into a large mixing bowl.1 organic lemon
- Put all but 12 blueberries into a small pan, squeeze in the juice from the lemon and add 50g Natvia.200 g blueberries, 50 g Natvia
- Simmer over a low heat for a couple of minutes. Strain the juice and remove the blueberries and set aside. Return the juice to the pan and simmer for a few more minutes to make a thick syrup. Leave to cool.
- Cream the butter with the lemon zest and Natvia until light and fluffy.170 g unsalted butter, 200 g Natvia
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time.2 large eggs
- Sieve in the flour and baking powder and stir in.250 g flour, 1 tsp baking powder
- Add the blueberries taken from the syrup and fold in.
- Divide the mixture between 12 cupcakes cases and bake at 180℃ (350℉, Gas 4) for about 20 minutes when the cakes should be well risen and golden brown.
Blueberry Icing
- Cream the remaining butter with the Natvia icing until light and fluffy, then beat in the cream cheese and as much of the syrup as the mix will take without it becoming runny.50 g Natvia icing, 100 g full fat cream cheese, 50 g butter
- Spread the icing on top of the cakes and decorate with the reserved blueberries.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
I was commissioned to create a recipe using these Natvia products. I was not required to write a positive review and as always, all opinions are my own. Thank you for your support of the brands and organisations that help to keep Tin and Thyme blithe and blogging.
These are so pretty and I’ll bet they taste great too.
Thanks Janice, the blueberry lemon cheese icing was the best bit – sweet, tart and creamy.
I think lemons and blueberries were made to be together! Love cupcakes with them.
I’m with you there Heidi, lemons give a certain needed sharpness to blueberries I feel.
Oh my wow. These look so so good. I am a huge pink lover so I think I’ll be having a go at that insane pink, it’s gorgeous!
It’s a wonderful colour isn’t it Hannah? Tastes good too 🙂
That pinky frosting looks really beautiful!
Thanks Angie – such are the power of blueberries 🙂
these look so cute! i love the pink icing! pinned. 🙂
Thank you Sarah. The icing was my favourite part. I loved the colour and it tasted wonderfully fruity too.
I have yet to try Natvia in baking and must do so one of these days.
Well it’s jolly useful to be able to bake without using sugar from time to time Bintu.
I used to bake with Xylitol years ago when I was dieting. I kind of forgot about sugar alternatives since but I’d be curios to give this a go. I’ve just made a lime and ginger drizzle cake which is sat on the side cooling at the moment. I wonder how natvia would taste for the drizzle. This is my fave kind of cake but I always think that there’s too much sugar in it.
Ooh lime and ginger is a lovely combination. Luckily for you, you don’t live next door carolyn or I might be popping around for a slice. Xylitol has calories I believe, although a lot less then sugar. Natvia has none. It is more distinctive in taste though, so I think you’d have to try it and see what you thought.
Yummy colours and I love that these products are safe even for diabetics and do not give crazy sugar spikes! Makes me want to get back to baking!
Ah yes indeed Manjiri, don’t give up on the baking!
That icing is such a glorious colour, I would choose this cake for that alone!
Me too Laura – as long as I knew the colour came from an integral ingredient – I am not a fan of food dyes.
Love the colour of the icing. Have never attempted sugar free baking and didn’t even really know what Natvia was so thanks for enlightening me. I’ll have to do some experimenting with my baking.
Thanks Jen, the colour is wonderfully vibrant – it tastes rather good too. I’ve tried a few stevia based products and this is definitely the best of them.
The colour of the icing is gorgeous. I do love blueberries baked into cakes as they become so moist.
I’m with you on blueberries in cakes Tracy, well pretty much any fresh fruit really 🙂
These look amazing. So colourful and they just beg to be bitten into. Yum.
I just loved the icing on these, it was so vibrant and ever so tasty too 😉
I love the idea of using a natural sweetener instead of sugar! These look lovely 🙂
Thanks Becca, it’s jolly useful to have a calorie free sweetener up one’s sleeve that isn’t bad for you in some way.
Gorgeous! I picked up a copy of the primrose bakery books from my local charity shop. These cupcakes look delicious.
Thank Kath. You’re always picking up good books in that charity shop of yours. I like the ideas the Primrose Bakery books have, although they tend to use more sugar than I would.
I know, it’s blooming marvellous at that charity shop. I have been picking up a load of American cook books lately. I want to meet the person/people that drop them off in there. Then the Oxfam shop had a copy of Michael Pollan’s Cooked and Wille Harcourt Cooze’s book the other day. I very nearly kissed the lady at the till. But managed to refrain myself in time. Both have been brilliant reads.
Ooh wonderful. I have Willie’s book – recently picked up in a remainder shop, but not Michael Pollan’s, which I really ought to get hold of.
look at that icing! Well HELLO! I’m never 100% sure about the sugar free natural sugars but always good to know they work well. it’s a texture thing for me.
Texture-wise, the Natvia worked much better than other sugar-free products I’ve used for baking Dom, but as you know, I am not averse to a little sugar 😉 The icing was fabuloso.
They look and sound wonderful. I am useless in the kitchen when it comes to baking but I still enjoy having a go.
Enjoying it is the main thing Terri, I bet you’re not nearly as bad as you think you are.
These sound incredible, I will have to give them a go!
Thanks Rebecca, fresh fruit in cakes is pretty much always a winner with me.