Vanilla cupcakes with blackcurrant preserves icing

Looking for a recipe to use up the jam left in the jar after making this cake, I found an old magazine scrap with a recipe for apple cupcakes with blackcurrant icing; I thought it sounded delicious but did not have any apples around (I’d devoured them in crumble form a couple of hours before, mea culpa). Then I thought that a neutral flavor, like vanilla, would be a good substitute for the apple since it would let the icing shine – that was how these tender, simple yet flavorsome cupcakes were created.

Vanilla cupcakes with blackcurrant preserves icing
adapted from the wonderful Gourmet Today: More than 1000 All-New Recipes for the Contemporary Kitchen + an old magazine scrap

Cupcakes:
¾ cup (105g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
¾ stick (85g) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons (90g) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon whole milk, room temperature

Icing:
½ cup (70g) icing sugar
100g blackcurrant preserves
2-3 teaspoons lemon juice

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a twelve-cavity muffin pan (1/3 cup capacity each cavity) with paper liners.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add egg and beat until just combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low, then add flour mixture and milk mixtures alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour and mixing until just combined.
Divide batter among muffin cups, filling them two-thirds full, and bake until tops are pale golden and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in centers comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then carefully remove and transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely.
Make the icing: sift the icing sugar into a medium bowl. Add the preserves and mix well. Gradually add the lemon juice, mixing until desired consistency. Pour over the cooled cupcakes and set aside to set, about 30 minutes.

Makes 12