Lavender Vanilla Cupcakes

Taking a cue from the lavender vanilla macarons from a couple posts ago, I decided to translate this flavor combination into a cupcake. I honestly did not find too many recipes for lavender frosting out there, so I was wary at first. Two primary ways to infuse the lavender flavor involved soaking lavender buds in milk or using an extract made from lavender buds soaked in vodka. My traditional vanilla frosting recipe uses cream, so I decided to use that as a way to convey lavender. Soaking the buds overnight gave a very pleasant flavor that worked out just right in the frosting.

Lavender Cream

1 tbsp dried lavender buds
4 tbsp heavy cream

Combine the buds and cream in a small bowl, stirring to fully submerge the lavender. Cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, though longer won't hurt.

Vanilla Cupcakes
yield: about 18-20 cupcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/3 cups sugar

3 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla

2/3 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, 325 if using dark pans. Line cupcake tin with 24 liners.

In a large bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes on medium speed. With the mixer running on low speed, add in the eggs one at a time, waiting for each to be incorporated before adding in the next. Finally, add in the vanilla. Make sure to scrape down the bowl regularly. The mixture may look curdled, but that's not a concern.

Add in the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, scraping down the bowl as needed.

Divide the batter amongst the cupcake liners (about 1/4 cup batter per cupcake) and bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Lavender Frosting

1 cup butter, softened
3 1/2 - 4 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/2 tbsp vanilla
4 tbsp lavender cream

Cream the butter in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add in the confectioner's sugar gradually, mixing and scraping the bowl as necessary. After half of the confectioner's sugar is added in, add the vanilla and half of the cream. Mix well. Add in the rest of the confectioner's sugar, reserving about a 1/2 cup. Add in the remaining lavender cream, mix well, and test the frosting for sweetness and spreadability. If necessary, add in the remaining sugar. Otherwise, omit it.*

*This seems like a strange process, but this is how I always make a light and fluffy frosting. I hate frostings that are too sweet, but confectioner's sugar is necessary to make the frosting spreadable. My "add a little cream then a little sugar" testing method, along with omitting the final 1/2 cup helps me to get the frosting just the way I like it.

Compost Cupcakes

While I'm very proud of my own recipes, I can't help but get ideas from elsewhere at times. These cupcakes come courtesy of The Pink Patisserie. I have made only slight modifications to the recipe. I removed chocolate chips from the batter in favor of chopped chocolate, recommend different beer, and have adjusted amounts so that the recipe yields an even 2 dozen cupcakes. I could check out the original recipe though. It is inspired.

Compost Cupcakes
yield: 2 dozen cupcakes

8oz brown ale (or other darker beer)
1 cup butter

2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tbsp finely ground coffee

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream

1/3 cup each quick oats, crushed plain potato chips, finely chopped chocolate crumbled cake or cake donut, shredded coconut*

In a medium saucepan set over medium temperature, heat the ale and butter until the butter is melted. Once the butter melts, add the cocoa and coffee, whisking to dissolve. Let it cool for about 30 minutes.

In the mean time, preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 if using dark pans). Line cupcake tins with 24 cupcake liners. In a large bowl, sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the eggs and sour cream until homogenous. With the mixer running on low, slowly pour in the beer/butter mixture in a steady stream until incorporated. Gradually add in the dry ingredients (either in 3 separate additions or gradually with the mixer on low). Finally, fold in the odds and ends, everything from the oats to the coconut.

Pour roughly 1/4 cup batter into each cupcake liner. Bake for 17-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to rack to cool completely. Frost with vanilla frosting.


*This is the general mixture I use when I make these cupcakes. I highly recommend trying out other odds and ends. Crumbled pretzels would work great in place of chips, for example.

Vanilla Frosting

1 cup salted butter, softened
3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
4 - 5 tbsp heavy cream

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add in 2-3 cups of the confectioner's sugar. Add in the vanilla and half the cream. Add in the remaining confectioner's sugar. Add cream until you've reached a spreadable consistency.

Garnish

An incredibly tasty way to garnish these guys is to pulse some coffee, potato chips, and coconut in a small food processor or coffee grinder. You wind up getting a powdery garnish that tastes like the cupcake filling and looks a bit compost-y. I suppose it depends how you want the cupcakes to look though.