Recipe Snapshot: Lavender Cupcakes

It's officially spring.  My car is covered in icky yellow pollen, the azalears are blooming, there is asparagus everywhere I turn, and I finally broke out my flipflops a few days ago to give my toes a taste of freedom.  With the arrival of spring comes a variety of holidays and special occasions.  The Royal Wedding was today, Mother's Day is just around the corner, and graduation and weddings are on nearly everyone's calendars.  In my mind, special occasions mean special food!  So when my work had a bake sale with a Royal Wedding theme, I just had to try something a little special: lavender cupcakes.

I may have mentioned in a previous post that I love the taste of lavender.  Yes, the taste.  I love the smell, too, as evidenced by the lavender sachets in some of my drawers and the soap in my shower, but the flavor is really special if done right.  Because many people have never eaten anything with lavender flavor, some will find it peculiar or even perfumey, but if you don't go overboard with it, it adds a lightly floral je ne sais quoi to these that is just perfect for spring.  If I had a bridal shower to go to, I would totally make these!  So if you've got a mom who loves cupcakes, a grad who loves lavender, or a girlie baby/bridal shower coming up, take note!

Recipe and notes below the cut!

Some notes on these cupcakes:

• First, I tried these at home over the weekend before making them for the bake sale. I then had my husband and a couple of colleagues taste-test them--since I love lavender, but not everyone does, I needed a reality check. 
• The feedback I got was a suggestion to add some lemon flavor.  This makes perfect sense because lavender and lemon are often paired together (including in my own favorite lavender shortbread cookies!).  The lemon just complements the lavender perfectly and mellows the flavor, without covering it up. I didn't want to add actual lemon juice because I didn't want to affect the chemistry of the cupcakes, and didn't want to curdle the milk in the frosting!  So I used real lemon extract, and then garnished the finished product with some fresh lemon zest. (The cupcake pictured is from the test batch, so no lemon.)
• If you don't have the time to let the sugar sit with the lavender buds for a while before baking (I let mine sit for two days), you can speed up that process by putting the sugar and lavender buds in the food processor for a bit.  Then you wouldn't need to strain the regular sugar, though you could if you wanted.  I would still strain the confectioner's sugar, because you want the frosting to be fluffy and smooth.
• I thought the frosting was a tad sweet, so when I made these for the bake sale, I used about 2/3 of the powdered sugar, but the full amount of butter and milk.  Perfect.

Lavender Cupcakes, recipe from Dawn of Beat Until Fluffy blog, found on Tasty Kitchen, with my own alterations
Serves: 12. Time: 45 minutes + cooling.

Ingredients

• 3 teaspoons dried lavender buds, divided
• ½ cup plus 2 Tablespoons whole milk
• ¾ cups sugar (original recipe calls for "superfine sugar, which I could not find--regular worked fine)
• 2 cups confectioner's sugar
• 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
• 1-½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
• 1 whole egg
• 1-½ teaspoons lemon extract, divided*** (optional)
• 3 drops red food coloring
• 3 drops blue food coloring
• dried lavender buds, for garnish*** (optional)
• fresh lemon zest, for garnish *** (optional)

Directions

1. Place one teaspoon of lavender buds and milk in a small saucepan over medium heat. Scald the milk and pour into a heatproof container. Chill in the fridge. (Note: if you've never scalded milk before--I hadn't--here's how. This step is where most of the lavender flavor comes from.  DO NOT SKIP.)
2. Place regular and confectioner’s sugar each in their own zip lock bag (quart size works fine) or tupperware. Add one teaspoon of lavender buds to each. Stir, seal and allow to rest for several hours, or as long as you like—the scent will just get stronger.
3. Heat your oven to 325 degrees. Place muffin cups in your muffin pan, or place the cups on a cookie sheet if you do not have a muffin pan. Spritz the cups with cooking spray.
4. Sift flour and baking powder together, set aside. Strain the regular sugar. Strain the scalded milk of lavender buds and set 2 tablespoons of it aside, leaving about 1/2 cup for the batter.
5. Place regular sugar, 3 tablespoons of the butter, 1 teaspoon of lemon extract (if using), and the egg in your mixer bowl and beat well. Add sifted flour/baking powder to the batter and combine. Keep the mixer going and slowly add 1/2 cup of the scalded milk and beat until fluffy.
6. Scoop batter into muffin cups, filling each one halfway. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until golden brown. Let the cupcakes cool until you can handle them and remove to wire racks.
7. To make the frosting, sift lavender buds from confectioner’s sugar. Place confectioner’s sugar, remaining 5 tablespoons butter and 3 drops each of blue and red food coloring in your mixer bowl. Mix until combined. With the mixer running, slowly pour in remainder of scalded milk and beat until fluffy. The longer you beat this frosting, the more ‘fluff’ it will acquire. When cupcakes are cool, frost and garnish as desired.