Blackberry Buttercream Mini-Cake

This tiny little cake is the perfect portion for four people.  It can be made a day in advance and kept in a cool location.

Blackberry Buttercream Mini-Cake

Ingredients

Cake

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1/8 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 cup milk
• squirt of lemon juice
• pinch of salt

• Blackberry Buttercream Frosting

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 9-10 oz. powdered sugar (approx. 2 1/2 cups)
• 1/4 cup blackberries,
• mint, to garnish

Serves 4
Cook Time: 25 minutes + cooling

Frosting 101
This is an American buttercream - the easiest of all buttercreams because it is based on just powdered sugar and butter.  However, it does not hold up well in hot weather and melts easily.  If your house is hot or your are hosting an event outside, consider refrigerating your cake (or putting it away in a cool place) until about an hour before eating.

Cream butter and sugar until combined in a stand mixer or hand-mixer; add egg and mix until completely incorporated.  Add lemon and vanilla and incorporate.
In a small to medium-sized bowl whisk all dry ingredients until thoroughly mixed.  Add half the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then all all the milk, than add the remainder of the flour mixture.  Mix until combined, but be careful not to over-mix.
Pour into prepared cake pans (2).  For this little mini-cake, I used two 4 1/2" cheesecake pans; however, this recipe makes 4 cupcakes, or 8 mini-cupcakes if you do not have mini-cake pans.
Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cakes sit for no more than 5 minutes, before inverting onto a cooking rack.  Once completely cooled frost

In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, combine butter, vanilla, salt and blackberries; mix until blackberries are mostly combined (you may still have a few specks, which is fine).  Slowly add the powdered sugar on low-speed.  Around 8 oz. (or approx. 2 cups) taste the frosting to see how sweet or tart it is - add the remaining powdered sugar based on your taste preference.
Transfer frosting to piping bag and pipe on cake or cupcakes.

Taste your frosting!  Blackberries vary in tartness based on species and time of year. Taste your frosting as you make it so you don't end up with an overly sweet frosting and can still taste the blackberries!

This recipe also works great with raspberries, you may want to cut back to just 8 oz. on the powdered sugar though!