Lavender Lemon Cupcakes

Yes, there's snow on the ground but let's pretend it's spring. 

Another cupcake post? Well yes. I do love them so what's the harm? Today's post is a particularly special one. After what may be now known in history as "the worst exam ever" - I came home to find that my fiance's mother had sent me none other than food grade organic lavender buds!! 

Look at how gorgeous these guys are! The purple buds delighted my imagination as I had been eyeing a certain lavender recipe for quite some time but have been lacking the key ingredient. But fret no more as these buds provided the missing flavor to these lavender lemon cupcakes.

Oh they're so pretty! To make these guys, I bathed some sugar in lemon zest and lavender buds and baked them into cupcakes. The citrus flavor complemented the floral aromas from these flowers into one of the most delicious cupcakes I've ever tasted! The lavender is not at all overwhelming. In fact, I might even step up the flavor next time by pre-seeping the lavender buds in some sugar for 1-2 weeks thereby ensuring that the floral scent is picked up even more. 

I even went to my local craft store to buy some beautiful cupcake liners and they were so worth it! I could oogle over these all day - in fact, I just might. These cupcakes are topped with a lemon cream cheese frosting and topped with some lavender buds too!

So many pictures! I can't help it they're too pretty! Try this recipe out for yourself, it's too much fun!

Lavender Lemon Cupcakes

Adapted from: Hilary Makes
Yield: 24 cupcakes

Cupcakes

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 tsp lavender flowers

1/2 tsp lemon zest

1 cup butter at room temperature

4 eggs

2 cups flower

3 tbsp baking powder

4 tbsp milk

Preheat your oven to 325F

In a small bowel, combine the sugar, flowers, and lemon zest until the flavors tickle your olfactory epithelium (ack sorry, med school talk - shut down). Add this mixture to your butter and cream until light and fluffy. Incorporate eggs one at a time and then add in your flour, baking powder, and milk. Bake for 15-18 minutes depending on how big you make them. I would err on the side of smaller since they tend to rise a bit. Let cool completely before assembling the lemon cream cheese frosting!

For the icing

2 sticks butter at room temperature

8 oz softened cream cheese

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp lemon zest

4 tsp lemon juice

4 cup confectioners sugar

Cream together the butter and cream cheese. Add in the vanilla, zest, and juice. Finally incorporate the confectioners sugar one cup at a time until light and fluffy. I also decided to add a little red and blue food coloring to make purple (yay elementary school color wheel!). Pipe onto the cupcake or simply spread on and decorate with more buds, edible pearls, sprinkles or perhaps simply devour on the spot. 

Keep refrigerated until you eat them all or give them away 

                                                                                                                             Sam