The best part of summer is seeing all of the plants come to life and come into bloom. I love seeing the flowers but I particularly love lavender. It just smells amazing and the color is striking. I’ve always wanter to visit Provence and see the fields of lavender in bloom. I have a picture in my mind about how wonderful that would be in real life and I hope my expectation for that is true to the reality. While I’m in the inner city, I’m celebrating the season with Lemon Lavender Cupcakes to remind me of the flowers and of seeing Provence one day.
I first started using lavender in baking a few years ago. You don’t want to use just any old lavender though. Look for culinary grade lavender (you can easily find it on Amazon) which is usually a milder breed of lavender so that your cooking doesn’t come out tasting like soap. That being said a little lavender goes a long way. I made cookies with lavender once which Tai refused to have more than one bite of because it tasted like he was eating perfume in his words. So caution to the wise, a little lavender goes a long way.
There’s something about spring that makes me want to bake. I open the windows, blast some fun music and could spend the whole day in the kitchen cooking. Lately I’ve been trying to incorporate more props into my photos and spring has had a huge influence. Hello flowers! I really liked experimenting with using flowers in some of my shots. The idea came after a class I had with Kayley of The Kitchen McCabe whose photo are absolutely stunning and styled beautifully.
I grew up in the middle of nowhere New Hampshire and we had space, a lot of it. Most of it was woods but we carved out a nice yard around our house and filled it with gardens and flowers. While my mom would have to pay my sister to help out in the gardens, I’d come home from work (at a farm nonetheless) and could be found out in the garden weeding, pruning, planting, you name it! There were some plants we had several varieties of; Peonies, coneflower, daffodil, and lavender to name a few. My love for lavender started early and has only grown.
I can guarantee that if you made these Lemon Lavender Cupcakes for any spring event or party that they’s be a guaranteed hit! Let me know if you’ve tried making them and how you liked it!
Lemon Lavender Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 1/2 Cups Flour
- 1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 Tsp Salt
- 2 Eggs
- 2/3 Cup Sugar
- 12 Tbsp Butter Melted
- 1/2 Cup Milk
- 2 Tbsp Culinary Lavender
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Zest
Frosting
- 3 Cups Powdered Sugar
- 1/3 Cup Butter Softened
- 2 Tbsp Milk
- 1 Tbsp Culinary Lavender
- 2 Tsp Lemon Zest
- Food Coloring (Optional)
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350. Line a standard cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
- Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Beat together eggs and sugar until light and foamy. Gradually pour in melted butter and combine until creamy.
- Stir in flour mixture, then add in milk.
- Fold in culinary lavender and lemon zest.
- Divide batter evenly into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cool completely.
Frosting
- Cream together powdered sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add milk and beat until desired thickness.
- Stir in lavender and lemon zest. Add food coloring if desired.
- Pipe frosting onto the completely cooled cupcakes, then enjoy!
Like baking with lavender? Be sure to check out my White Chocolate Lavender Cookies HERE
I doubled the recipe and made a 2 layer 9in cake. I halved the butter and used apple sauce for the rest, it came out wonderfully. My only complaint is that the flavors are so light that it was barely there. So next time I’ll be sure to add extra lemon zest and lavender. Overall a great basic recipe, especially if you are on the path to trying lavender flavored things.
Thanks 😀