Lavender Blueberry Cupcakes

These cupcakes are fragrant because of the lavender infused cupcake base, and tart because of the blueberry frosting. The result? A lovely combination of floral and fruity tastes which was an immediate hit among my direct family members because I force-fed them with these after they were freshly baked.

The main problem about this cupcake was: how do I infuse the lavender into the cake enough so that you can taste flower immediately so it could play a major role in the flavor profile of this cupcake?

1. I made some lavender sugar – lavender flowers mixed with sugar in a tupperware and left to stand overnight. Mine had been standing in the cupboard for months, so I guess I could safely say that my sugar was lavender-infused.

2. I infused the milk I used in my cupcake with lavender flowers by simmering it on top of of the stove with the lavender flowers, and then letting it steep for a further 30 minutes off the heat – you don’t want your milk to cook on you.

I think I may have gone slightly overboard, but it did work – I could smell the lavender while these were in the oven and could taste it immediately when I took a bite of the cake. I also tried a different type of frosting – I used the mother of all piping tips, an extremely groovy tip (I don’t mean the dance groovy, I mean the groovy with lots of lines groovy) and just piped the frosting onto the cupcake at a 90º angle. The effect – rather a rustic frosting, but better if frosting was of medium-stiff consistency, so the grooves would stand out more.

All in all, another satisfying baking adventure. 🙂