Blueberry, Lavender Cupcake With Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Today was Easter and I was trying to figure out the perfect dessert to make for this wonderful Spring holiday. I realized I had a large bag full of dried lavender in my cabinet that I've been wanting to utilize and immediately started to develop a recipe. What I came up with was a moist blueberry, lavender cupcake with a lemon cream cheese frosting and to top it all off, a drizzle of lavender honey (you can find it at a specialty cheese store or at a Wholefoods by the cheese section).

This cupcake is definitely a "luxurious" kind of cupcake with a ton of flavor, but I can guarantee it will not disappoint! Hope you all enjoy.

Tip: Freeze fresh blueberries so they will cook evenly within the cupcake.



With A Lil' Twist's Blueberry, Lavender Cupcake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Serving: 24 Cupcakes / Prep Time: 20 minutes / Bake Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
Cupcake

• 2 3/4 Cups Cake Flour
• 2 Cups Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Baking Powder
• 3/4 Tsp Salt
• 12 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, Softened and Cubed
• 4 Egg Whites
• 1 Whole Egg
• 1/2 Cup Whole Milk
• 1/2 Cup Buttermilk
• 2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tsp Almond Extract
• 1 1/2 Cups Fresh Blueberries, Frozen
• 1/4 Cup Dried Lavender

Frosting

• 8 oz. Package of Cream Cheese
• 4 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, Softened
• 2 Tbsp Lemon Zest
• 2 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 4 Cups Powdered Sugar
• Drizzle of Lavender Honey (Optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare two cupcake trays with holders.

Sift the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into the mixing bowl. Turn the mixer on low and add the soft, cubed butter slowly to form a crumble, sand-like texture. 

Mix in the egg whites one at a time, scraping when necessary, followed by the whole egg. Mix for 1-2 minutes until fluffy. 

In a separate bowl, mix the whole milk, buttermilk, almond extract and vanilla extract. Pour mixture 1/4 at a time until well combined. 

Take the fresh blueberries out of the freezer. In a small bowl coat blueberries with flour so they will not sink to the bottom while baking. Once coated, pour the blueberries and dried lavender into the cupcake batter.

Mix just until incorporated. Pour batter into the prepared pans and bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Make sure not to brown them. 

Frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter, lemon zest and juice, and vanilla on medium until well combined. Add powdered sugar in three additions and beat until smooth. 

Once the cupcakes have baked. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Put lemon frosting in a piping bag (or ziplock bag with the tip cut off) and apply frosting. Drizzle lavender honey on top of frosting and garnish with  frozen blueberries. 

My DSLR ran out of battery while at my parents house, but luckily I had this picture from when I was testing the recipe :)

I hope you all enjoy this cupcake, it's definitely not your everyday cupcake, but it is filled with a ton of fresh flavors that remind me of a nice spring day.

Love,

Nicole