Lavender Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Frosting

These lavender cupcakes are light, sweet and buttery, and their floral flavour makes them perfect for spring and summer.

MAKES: 12 cupcakes

PREP TIME: 40 minutes

COOKING TIME: about 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

CUPCAKES

• 2 Tbsp dried culinary lavender
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp fine sea salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ⅔ cup half-and-half cream (10%)

VANILLA BEAN FROSTING

• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups icing sugar, sifted
• 1 Tbsp whole milk
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Purple (or blue and red) gel food colouring
• White pearlized sprinkles

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a muffin pan with 12 large paper liners.
2. For the cupcakes, pound the lavender in a mortar and pestle until finely ground, or finely chop it by hand. (This helps to release its flavour.)
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and lavender. Set aside.
4.  In a large bowl and using an electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugar until pale and fluffy.
5.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.
6.  Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture alternately with the cream, making three additions of flour and two of cream, and beginning and ending with the flour. Stir until well combined.
7.  Fill the paper liners about two-thirds full with the batter. Bake until the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched and a wooden skewer inserted in the centre of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
8.  Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and let cool completely. (The undecorated cupcakes can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days.)
9. For the frosting, in a medium bowl and using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and ½ cup of the icing sugar until pale and fluffy.
10.  Beat in another ½ cup of the icing sugar and the milk. Continue beating in the icing sugar, ½ cup at a time, until the frosting is smooth and fluffy.
11.  Using a sharp knife, split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Scrape the seeds out into the frosting, discarding the pod. Add the vanilla extract to the frosting, then mix until smooth.
12.  Add enough purple food colouring (or a mixture of blue and red) to tint the frosting purple.
13.  Fit a piping bag with a leaf tip, then spoon in the frosting. Pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes, then scatter with sprinkles. (The decorated cupcakes can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Bring them to room temperature before serving.)

BAKING DAY SECRETS

• When buying lavender for cooking, look for culinary lavender so you know it’s safe to eat and has good flavour. Choose dried lavender packaged by a major herb producer or, if buying lavender from a lavender farm or farmers’ market, ask if it’s edible.
• Look for white pearlized sprinkles in bulk, craft or baking
  supply stores.