So I've been trying to come up with a blueberry muffin recipe using the muffin crumbs left by some of the other users of this sub. Started with u/Botboy141 's recipe which was good but the blueberry wasn't realistic enough for me so I started working with a combo of FW Blueberry (shouts to u/ThirdWorldOrder) and MF Blueberry. So far I've got something that I'm pretty happy with but it's still not 100% perfect.
The blueberry side of things is right where I want it and mostly the muffin base is what's been giving me problems. Not really a Cake Batter fan and sort of burnt on Vanilla Custard, VBIC, et al so I took a note from u/Enyawreklaw 's Bluenuts recipe and tried adding Torrone to pull it all together. Kinda hitting a wall after 10+ 5mL testers so figured I'd pitch this to you guys and see what you think about my %'s & flavors.
BBBM a.k.a. Big Beautiful Blueberry Muffins
FW Blueberry 4%
CAP Sugar Cookie 3%
INW Biscuit 1%
MF Blueberry (10% dilution) 0.5%
FA Cookie 0.5%
FA Torrone 0.5%
FA Nut Mix 0.25%
FA Lemon Sicily 0.125%
Total Flavor: 10%
EDIT: Haven't tried FLV Blueberry Muffin but that will be my next purchase. Kinda wanted to see how far I'd get before resorting to an all-in-one solution but not opposed to it as I've heard good things.
EDIT 2: After another 20-30 test batches and taking some suggestions of people on here I'm much closer than the first version
BBBM a.k.a. Big Beautiful Blueberry Muffins V.2
FW Blueberry 5.5%
FW Cake Batter Dip 3%
TFA Holiday Spice 1:10 Dilution 0.25%
MF Blueberry 1:10 Dilution 0.5%
FA Catalan Cream 0.5%
FA Meringue 0.5%
INW Biscuit 0.5%
FA Vanilla Classic 1.5% (can be subbed for FLV Vanilla Custard, DIYFS Holy Vanilla, or any other basic vanilla flavor).
Reduced the amount of pyrazine and nutty notes overall by dropping the Torrone, Nut Mix, and Cookie from the recipe and brought the Biscuit down a bit as well. Tried adding FA Joy but it didn't do much for the recipe. Instead took this recipe in more of a cake-y direction and started experimenting with Cake Batter Dip from Flavor West. Overall I think this flavor is great and really helped pull the recipe together. It pulls even more sweetness out of FW Blueberry while not being too overpowering of a bakery note. It's light, cakey, and cloyingly sweet. Reminiscent of frosting but gives this recipe a creamy, eggy, bounce that it was missing before. If this recipe is too sweet for some I'd recommended tweaking the Blueberry and Cake Batter Dip as those are definitely the culprits.
I also added the tiniest bit of nutmeg from Holiday Spice diluted to 10%. Some might find this unpleasant or unnecessary and I think the recipe is fine without it but it definitely adds some nice balance and draws more 'baked' flavor without relying on the usual suspects. I tried various cinnamons including FLV Cinnamon but found them to be overpowering. Also tried FLV Blueberry Muffin but it didn't really get me much closer I found it to be similar to their candy-like Blueberry flavor. Finally I couldn't really settle on a vanilla flavor that made this recipe any better or worse so Vanilla Classic seemed like the least offensive pick. I tried FLV VC and DIYFS Holy Vanilla and both were good but just didn't really push the recipe much further.
Honestly, FLV Blueberry muffin was a disappointment IMO. It' might be slightly useful at a low percentage, but not much. FW Yellow Cake is where I would go next. Maybe at about 1.5 - 2%
I went to a b+m trying to get a friend to go sub ohm, and talked to them about how I make some of my own juices and for some reason told me what was in their blueberry muffin juice that I spent 25 fucking dollars on. They used cinnamon danish swirl, blueberry, graham cracker and biscuit. There's probably more, but that's what I know they use
> Haven't tried FLV Blueberry Muffin but that will be my next purchase. Kinda wanted to see how far I'd get before resorting to an all-in-one solution but not opposed to it as I've heard good things.
Its fine at 0.50% up to 1%, pushing higher I tend to get some off flavors after steeping. Definitely not a base. I think of it more as a baked blue berries with some bread notes and a hint of cream. Not too musky, which is nice.
Torrone + Cookie + Nut Mix would be a little too sharp for me, all flavors have pretty high pyrazine content as well as benzaldehyde from the almond note in torrone and nutmix.
The touch of lemon is nice, though I prefer INW's. FA Catalan cream can be nice paired with berry flavors, it has the hint of cinnamon and citrus that helps it pop.
Try to test your mixes separately. Work on the blueberry flavor in the muffin separately from the actual muffin base.
If you are going to be getting some FLV, get their vanilla custard for this recipe in particular. Try it at 0.50%-1.5% for a smooth, subtly milky and sweet cream to smooth out the cookie type flavors into a muffin.
Meringue around 0.25%-0.50% can enhance this and boost sweetness well, a light touch of yogurt flavors will make it more tangy if you want. Optional would be a touch of TFA Cheescake Graham Crust for tangy and rich body.
FLV Coconut 0.10-0.20% will make it super creamy and nicely accent the blueberry.slightly buttery which is nice in a muffin recipe.
FLV Crunch Cereal kept low (<0.50%) will add more subtle berry flavor and cereal grain flavor that can be transformed or "baked" into a bread type taste with FLV Blueberry muffin + cookie flavor + brown sugar.
I'd just try CAP Sugar Cookie around 4-5% first as the sole cake type interior before layering it with cookie and inw.
I think the thing that is missing most is the richness and authenticity you'd get from an eggy "custard" like base note you would taste in a real muffin from your recipe.
thanks for the detailed response! definitely helps to look at this from a different angle. I haven't yet tried to separate the blueberry from the muffin so I guess I could try to take that route. Was planning on trying Catalan Cream. I actually tried this recipe with FLV Vanilla Custard and it definitely added some sweetness and depth but not quite "muffin" but it could be I just have too many flavors going on (nut mix, cookie, etc). Will try to strip it back down. I know that Sugar Cookie tastes great on it's own and I like the ratios for the blueberry base I have so good idea for a starting point.
I was reading through some muffin (the food) recipes for inspiration and noticed a few people had used plain yogurt and sour cream in their blueberry muffins so maybe a slight dash of FLV Greek Yogurt could work here. Also noticed that a few recipes called for nutmeg so maybe a very small amount of TFA Holiday Spice could work some magic.
Careful with holiday spice, it can be quite dominating if it isn't kept super low. Best of luck!
FLV Blueberry Muffin has potential. I haven't used it solo but there's a nice recipe floating around here (sorry, can't remember the creator and I'm away from my notes) that uses it with FLV Strawberry and FLV Vanilla Custard. That recipe is more fruity than muffiny but a good starting point. FLV Blueberry Muffin has a far more realistic blueberry flavour than FW's and both of TFA's - all of which I found too perfumey, floral or 'cooked' tasting.
Also the cakey notes in FLV Blueberry Muffin seem a little low, so might need some topping up to get a more realistic blueberry muffin.
I guess my question should be how do I get more cake notes without killing the Blueberry. Have tried increasing FA Cookie and throwing FW Yellow Cake in the mix but neither really got me to a better place. Kinda want the blueberry to stay strong and have some bakery notes but not overwhelming.
Unfortunately I can't comment too much on your recipe as out of those ingredients I've only used FW Blueberry and INW Biscuit. More just came to give a shout out for FLV Blueberry Muffin.
FA and INW Biscuit both add dryness and a vegetal celery type note, I haven't had much luck with them because of that. FW yellow cake always seems to get lost in the mix for me, and by time you use enough coil gunking becomes a problem. Only thing left i can think of suggesting is TFA Vanilla Cupcake but looks like you've been down that path already.
I understand not wanting to go for an all-in-one solution but it sounds like FLV Blueberry Muffin might be a good choice if you want strong blueberry and background cakey notes. So far it seems like the sort of concentrate that takes to other additional flavours well and probably benefits from that. FLV Strawberry seems to enhance the blueberry. That strawberry doesn't really taste like strawberry to me either, more of a general berry-type flavour. A little FLV coconut is nice too and seems to enhance the light cinnamon in FLV BM.
That recipe I was talking about was Strawberry Blue (https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_eJuice/comments/2zunm4/flavorah_flv_flavor_reviews_by_ubotboy141/) by /u/botboy141. Link also has some good notes on the ingredients.
This is the variation I've been vaping over the last couple of days - not a perfect blueberry muffin by any means but closer to Blueberry Muffin than Strawberry Blue. Although I think Strawberry Blue is the better recipe overall.
2.0% FLV Blueberry Muffin
1.5% FLV Vanilla Custard
1.0% FLV Strawberry
0.2% FLV Coconut (3 drops/15mL)
Thanks for the ideas. I haven't yet tried TFA Vanilla Cupcake in this recipe. It's one of those flavors I have but have been sleeping on. Will look into FLV Strawberry might be the extra thing that pulls the blueberry back to center. Cake Batter wasn't working but maybe FLV Vanilla Custard can help. Vanilla flavor certainly could help make it more muffin-like. I tried cinnamon but it muted things.
maybe aim at the streusel (e.g. with some cake batter dip, meringue, etc.)? For me the crumbles on top and the goo around the actual blueberries are the flavors that "blueberry muffin" means (and fwiw FLV BBM goes a good part of the way there).
Thanks for the suggestion. Definitely feeling you on the crumbles. I was kinda going for a Dunkin Donuts style muffin which has these big sugar crystals glued to the top. Are you referring to FW Cake Batter Dip? I've never tried it myself but always curious if it different from CAP's Cake Batter which kinda has a weird flavor I'm not entirely in love with.
I think there was just a Sequel to Bronuts put out on the DIY or Die Youtube channel called Bluenuts or something. Similar recipe, with some Flavorah
Did you try adding FA Joy? At a low percentage it really brings out the bakery flavours.