Spring = Lavender Cupcakes
You can add lavender to any vanilla cake recipe by infusing milk with dried lavender. How? Easy.
Use about 4 tablespoons of dried lavender to each 1/2 cup of milk. Just stir it in, cover it, and then let it sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.
For these cupcakes, a recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery, I used the following:
1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
3 tablespoons of butter (I use margarine)
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup lavender infused milk
Beat together the flour, baking powder, butter and sugar until it takes on a sandy texture. Mix the egg in with the lavender milk, and then add it slowly, stirring until fully incorporated, but be careful not to over-mix.
Fill cupcake tin 2/3 full. Bake @ 325F for 20-25 minutes (rotate halfway through baking) and remove when cupcake tops are springy, or a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs (but not doughy).
For the icing, i used a standard buttercream recipe (butter, icing sugar, TINY bit of milk) but used some of the lavender infused milk. To pipe, I put two colours (white and purple!) into one piping bag, and piped out three rows of ruffles using a #104 tip. I used what I believe is a # 352 decorating tip for the little leaves. Anyway, cute for spring!
