Lavender Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Frosting

These are perhaps my all time favourite cupcakes - lavender and lemon work so very well together, but you could just as easily leave the frosting off and have a lavender muffin, if you'd prefer. The recipe is adapted from another Canadian blog, Patent in the Pantry, and was made with earl grey tea. But I am a lavender lover, and am always looking for a good recipe to use lavender in (also, I bought what appears to be a neverending bag of lavender on amazon for £5 and so I have to try and use it up).

Lavender Cupcakes
Makes approximately 18 regular cupcakes (or 12 regular and 12 mini)
 
1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
1 c. caster sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. plain flour
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. milk
1 tbsp. lavender (more for sprinkling over frosted cupcakes, if desired)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine lavender and milk in a small saucepan and heat on low for about 5 minutes, so the lavender can infuse the milk. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, combining between each addition.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add half of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, and stir until just combined. Add the cooled lavender and milk and the remaining dry ingredients, and stir until just combined (the more you stir, the more dense your cupcakes will become, so if you want more of a muffin texture, stir more, but if you want light, fluffy cupcakes, try to stir as little as possible).

Fill muffin tins 3/4 full and bake at 350F for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the centre of a cupcake. Allow cupcakes to rest for a minute or two before removing from pan to a cooling rack. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting them.

Lemon Buttercream Frosting
1/2 c. unsalted butter
2 c. icing sugar
zest and juice of one lemon

Cream butter and sugar together until smooth. Add lemon juice and zest and beat again, adding more icing sugar if necessary, to reach the desired consistency. I prefer my icing a bit stiff so it can be piped rather than runny, so I tend to add an extra tablespoon or two as I go along.