Lavender Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Frosting
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If you have not yet tried lavender cupcakes now is the time. I was hesitant to try these myself, because I’m so used to lavender simply being a scent for candles, body lotion and air fresheners so to mix that with food and make something with lavender seemed somewhat risky. I’m telling you these are unbelievably delicious!
I’m so glad I finally made these cupcakes. I just created a basic yellow cupcake and blended in some honey, lavender and whole milk to compliment as well as mellow out the flavors from the lavender.
I read somewhere soaking lavender in milk helps tone down the flavors (and I’d have to agree with this which is why I let the lavender and milk mixture rest while preparing the rest of the ingredients for the cupcakes).
These delicate and dainty cupcakes are perfect paired with the fluffy vanilla bean frosting, it makes them fancy with a gourmet touch. I colored my frosting with some pink and sky blue wilton gel colors (just because that’s what I had on hand), if you have violet and pink that would work great too.
Also, you may notice that I did garnish the tops of these with the dried lavender, I think I may prefer them more without that and like I said before I would use fresh lavender sprigs just to garnish them for looks (not eating) otherwise I would use white or purple sprinkles. Enjoy!
PS sorry for the shortage of pictures lately, I’m trying to get used to my new camera. It’s a whole new learning experience :).
Follow Cooking Classy
Lavender Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Frosting
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 Tbsp dried edible lavender
- 1 1/3 cups (158g) cake flour
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter , softened
- 1/2 cup +2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 3 Tbsp honey
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Vanilla Bean Frosting
- 1/2 cup salted butter
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- seeds of 1 vanilla bean
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- FOR THE CUPCAKES: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor combine milk and lavender and pulse about 1 - 1 1/2 minutes until lavender is well chopped, scrapping down inside of processor once during processing. Pour into liquid measuring cup (be sure to scrape out all of milk and lavender from sides and lid), set aside and allow to rest.
- In a mixing bowl whisk together cake flour, baking powder and salt for 30 seconds, set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, whip butter and sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl.
- Blend in honey. Add eggs one at a time and mix just until combined after each addition. Stir in vanilla.
- Working in 3 separate batches beginning and ending with flour mixture, add dry ingredients alternating with milk mixture, mixing just until combined after each addition.
- Fill paper lined muffin cups 2/3 full and bake in preheated oven 19 - 21 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Allow to cool several minutes in muffin tin before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
- Cool completely then frost with Vanilla Bean Frosting. Store in an airtight container.
- FOR THE FROSTING: In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter and vanilla bean seeds on medium-high speed until nearly white and very fluffy, about 7 - 8 minutes, frequently scrapping down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Add in powdered sugar, heavy cream and vanilla extract and mix on low speed until blended, then increase speed to medium and beat until very light and fluffy, about 5 - 6 minutes, frequently scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Pipe or spread over cupcakes. For best results use the day prepared.