Why hello there everyone.
We don't know about you, but we sure have been melting under the hot sun lately. Perhaps that motivated us to do something productive - surely we can't be the only ones baking this summer.
Allow us to to introduce to you our latest bakes: Lavender Cupcakes!
Perhaps they would qualify more as muffins since they lack in frosting (which we skimped on since it was way too sweet for us both) and had a denser texture to them .
Nonetheless we enjoyed these for the unique lavender punch in them. Mandy and I were blissfully unaware that lavender is that bitter, so when we wound up cutting the sugar in half in addition to jacking up the quantity of lavender, we found ourselves pleasantly surprised as to how it tasted.
Generally we're not too fond of overly sweet desserts, hence it was nice to have a bittersweet treat once in a while.
Of course should you prefer something sweeter you can always stick to the original proportions and pack on the frosting to counterbalance the bitterness.
Should have told that to my neighbour before I gave him some, whoops.
Ingredients
· FOR THE CUPCAKES:
· 1 stick Butter
(soft)
· 1 cup White Sugar
· 2 whole Eggs
· 1 teaspoon Vanilla
· 1 teaspoon Red Food
Coloring
· 1 teaspoon Blue Food
Coloring
· 1-½ cup All-purpose
Flour
· ½ teaspoons Baking
Powder
· 2-½ Tablespoons Chopped
Lavender
· ⅔ cups Light Cream
· FOR THE ICING:
· 2 bags Earl Grey Tea
(individual Size Tea Bags)
· 4
Tablespoons Boiling Water
· 1 stick Butter
(soft)
· 3 cups Powdered
Sugar
Preparation
Preheat
the oven to 350 F. Line a 12-count cupcake tin with paper liners and set aside.
Meanwhile,
in a large metal mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer
until combined.
Add
the eggs and vanilla and beat until creamy. Stir in the food coloring and mix
until you get a deep purple. Using a spoon, stir in the flour, baking powder
and chopped lavender. Stir in cream.
Mix
until batter is fully combined. Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 full with batter
and bake for about 12-14 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle
comes out dry.
Meanwhile,
put the tea bags in a heat proof bowl. Pour the boiling water over the tea bags
and let them steep about 10 minutes.
To
prepare the frosting, in a medium sized bowl beat the butter and 2 cups powdered
sugar until a thick, creamy frosting forms. Squeeze the liquid out of the tea
bags and discard the bags. Add the liquid tea to the frosting and add remaining
1 cup powdered sugar. Beat until an ivory colored frosting forms.
Frost
the cupcakes using your preferred method and sprinkle dry tea leaves (early
grey) on the tops.
Recipe
adapted from Jessie’s Kitchen Chronicles.
Give it a shot and let us know how it worked out for you! (:
Love,
Brendy
