Lavender Lemon Cupcakes

I work in an urban hospital, with some pretty awesome landscaping. Seriously, our hospital won national awards for the green landscaping around the different campuses. There are cabbages, all sorts of flowers I can not identify and shrubs of all shapes and sizes.

Each week, we receive “memos” detailing all the fun things happening throughout the system. I am told that I am probably one of few who actually read these, but I am always glad I do. Last week, my workplace held a lavender festival and I was able to pick my own lavender. I was inspired to create something delicious using the lavender I had picked.

I decided to pair the floral notes of the lavender with the acidity of lemon to balance it out. Here is what I came up with 🙂

Here is my recipe:

Makes 12 cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoon lemon zest

2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup butter,at room temperature

2 teaspoons fresh lavender

For the frosting:

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup vegetable shortening

3 tablespoons milk (plus more if needed)

4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon fine salt (I ran table salt thru a food processor)

1 teaspoon lemon extract, if desired

a drop of wilton violet colored food dye

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and sugar. Add in eggs, one at a time. Mix in milk, lemon juice and lemon extract.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Incorporate into wet ingredients. Add in lavender. DO NOT OVER MIX. 🙂

3. Line cupcake pan and pour batter into cups. I use an icecream scoop. Each cup was filled with approximately 1/3 cup batter.

4. Bake cupcakes at 350 for 15-18 minutes or until golden and tooth pick comes out clean. Allow to cool on rack.

5. To make the butter-cream frosting, cream together butter, vegetable shortening, sugar and fine salt using mixer. Add in the milk 1 tablespoon at a time, until the frosting comes together.

6. Add in food coloring (a little goes a long way).

7. Using Wiltons 2D tip, ice cupcake. I topped the icing with violet sprinkles and some fresh lavender.

7. Enjoy 🙂