I made these a few weeks ago for work and they went down a treat. I was a bit worried about the lavender being too strong but it was so subtle and worked really well as a sugar fix at the end of a days work! I found this recipe in my Hummingbird Bakery cupcakes and muffins book. A good find!
Recipe (makes 12 cupcakes)
Cakes
- 120ml milk
- 3 tbsp dried lavender
- 120g plain flour
- 140g caster sugar
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 40g unsalted butter
- 1 egg
Frosting
- 2 tbsp milk
- 1 tbsp dried lavender
- 250g icing sugar
- 80g unsalted butter
- a couple of drops of purple food colouring
Method
- For the cupcakes put the dried lavender and milk in a bowl and cover and leave in the fridge for a few hours to infuse. Do the same with the lavender and milk for the frosting.
- Preheat the oven to 170°C.
- Put the flour, sugar and baking powder in a large bowl and mix with a spoon.
- Add the butter and mix with a hand whisk until a sand-like consistency.
- Sieve the milk and lavender mix and pour the flavoured milk into the sand mix. Whisk well until combined thoroughly.
- Add the egg and whisk again until the mixture is smooth.
- Line a cupcake tray with 12 cupcake cases.
- Divide the batter between the cupcake cases using an ice cream scoop – my new party trick and it is a lot less messy than using spoons!
- Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the cakes spring bake and are golden brown. If you put a cocktail stick in the cakes, it should come out clean.
- Once the cakes are cooked, leave them to cool on a wired cooling rack.
- To make the frosting, simply strain the lavender milk into a large bowl. Add all the other ingredients into the bowl and mix with a hand whisk slowly until all the ingredients are combined. I find that I need to use all of the tube of the gel food colour below for 12 cupcakes. Then whisk on a faster setting for about 5 minutes.
- Ice the cooled cupcakes by spooning on a 12th of the mixture and swirling it around elegantly. If you prefer piping, fill a piping bag with the frosting and pipe on the topping.
Enjoy with a cup of tea and your favourite book!