Light and airy vanilla cupcakes made with real vanilla bean and lavender underneath a layer of almond and honey buttercream. They’re almost (almost!) too fancy to eat.
Cup-cakes! Cup-cakes! Cup-cakes! (said inside my head every time I take a bite of these perfectly vanilla cupcakes with lavender bites of joy).
With a light and airy buttercream infused with honey and almond flavors.
Holy moly that’s a lot happening in one tiny baked good. But somehow, it all works so well.
I’ve been dying to make something with lavender. Because it sounds so exotic and fancy and we all know I’m both of those things (??). Not really, but it tastes super good and I’m a fan of anything that tastes good. So basically I’m a fan of food in general. And especially a fan of these delightful cupcakes.
There’s two very important factors when creating a cupcake: the actual cake, and the frosting.
Let’s real talk about the cake part of this recipe. There is so much vanilla happening in these vanilla cupcakes and I love every minutes of it. I recently went to the Everything Food Conference and in our swag bag they gave us a legit vanilla bean. Which was perfect for this recipe! But don’t be afraid, you can buy these at Whole Foods (or something similar) for about $6 for a jar.
Then there’s the lavendar. Beautifully fragrant and girly. Perfect addition for a birthday or bridal/baby shower! I bought mine at Giant Eagle for super cheap and it will likely last me years. Just make sure you pulse it with the milk in the recipe before adding to the cupcake batter to get the tiny lavender seeds broken up.
The combination of lavender and vanilla make this such a light and delicate cupcake. It’s so so good, you guys. I brought these in to work and a coworker said (in a pleasantly surprised tone), “wow, you really know what you’re doing.” Thanks! I think?
Now, let’s talk frosting. HONEY ALMOND FROSTING.
I sort of felt like by boyfriend Zach when I was testing this recipe. Because he puts honey in/on EVERYTHING. Chicken, oatmeal, eggs. Yes! I said eggs.
Honey and lavendar go together like PB&J. And I’m obsessed with anything that involves almond so I put them together. And it worked like a charm.
To get the perfect buttercream texture just make sure your butter is room temperature! Not too soft and melty, but not too hard. Your finger should leave a small indent in the butter if you push down on it. Give it a good whip for about 3 minutes to get the lumps out and then sift the powdered sugar in the butter if you can (not required, but helpful).
The perfectly smooth honey almond frosting makes the perfect complement to my lovely cuppy cakes.
They’re so perfect for summertime parties! Light and floral, but so sweet and delicious!
- For the cupcake:
- 1 tbsp dried edible lavendar
- ¾ cup milk (or almond milk)
- 1 and ⅔ cup flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 large egg whites
- ¼ cup vanilla greek yogurt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- seeds scraped from ½ split vanilla bean
- For the frosting:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ¼ cup raw honey
- salt, to taste
- For the cupcakes, preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners. Set aside.
- In a food processor or blender, combine milk and lavenderr and pulse until well chopped. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt butter in the microwave for approximately 1 minute. Whisk in granulated sugar. Whisk in egg whites, yogurt, reserved milk with lavendar, and vanilla extract until combined.
- Split vanilla bean down the middle lengthwise. Scrape seeds from half of the vanilla bean into batter and whisk until combined.
- Slowly add dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and whisk gently until no lumps remain.
- Divide batter among 12 cupcake liners and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
- While the cupcakes cool, make the frosting. Place room temperature butter in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth, about 3 minutes. Sift in powdered sugar and add heavy cream, almond extract and honey. Beat until combined and no lumps remain, about 3 more minutes.
- Pipe frosting onto cupcakes using a piping bag or plastic bag with the tip cut off. Garnish with additional lavender or edible flowers if desired.
- Store in an air tight container for up to 4 days.
