This year, for Valentines Day, I wanted to do something different. I thought I would try to make more of a gourmet cupcake. They turned out AWESOME so I wanted to share the recipe! What makes this cupcake so different is the edible Lavender flavor paired with blueberries and creme.To find the lavender I had to call my local Whole Foods and they told me where they buy their spices, so in the Kansas City area you can find lavender at Penzey's Spices (www.penzeys.com) . Also it's not very expensive. A huge plus to making this cupcake right now is fresh blueberries are in season! I ended up getting 24oz of organic blueberries for six dollars at Sams Club! One more thing, I actually used sugar and didn't substitute because I wanted to see how good the cupcakes were going to be. Now that I have made this once, I will experiment to make these healthier and then blog about it! But these are such a good sweet treat for the sweeties in your life!
Ingredients (makes 24 cupcakes)
Blueberry Cupcake:
6 Oz Fresh Bluberries
2 3/4 cups Cake Flour
1 1/2 tablespoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons Unsalted Butter at room temperature
1 cup Sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
1 cup milk
Lavender Buttercream icing:
1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted butter at room temperature
3 cups Confectioners Sugar
3 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons Dried Lavender Buds
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line two pans with baking cups and set aside.
Place the blueberries in a small microwave-safe bowl and heat for one minute until the blueberries puff up and some begin to pop.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. set aside. *Side note: cake flour might be hard to find. If you don't have it at your local store, just use regular flour...It won't make too much of a difference.
In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix till fully incorporated. Mix in the vanilla.
With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk. Incerase the speed to medium and beat till smooth.
Add the blueberries and mix until all are broken down and are fully incorporated into the batter. Yummy!
An ice cream scoop is perfect to divide the batter, filling the liners 2/3 of the way.
Bake the cupcakes until a toothpick inserted into a few comes out clean, about 15-20min. Completely cool on a rack before putting on the icing!
While the cupcakes are cooling, make the lavender buttercream. Mix butter in a bowl until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the confectioners sugar and salt and mix (gradually increasing in speed) until the sugar is fully incorporated, about 5 minutes.
Add the vanilla and whisk until the buttercream is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stir in lavender buds.
To frost the cupcakes, I used a open star tip in a ziplock bag to make it look a little nicer. And top with fresh Blueberries!
Here is a picture of how blue the cupcake looks after you take a bite! These were SO good! Be weary that the lavender is a taste some kids might not like.... I tested these on many friends/kids almost all approved but there were a few kids that the taste of lavender was "different". Hey, More for Mom right? =)
