Courtney: Lavender Cupcakes topped with Mini Lavender Shortbread Hearts

Good Afternoon, folks! Hope you're well! It was me Mams birthday a lil while ago and I decided to make her some cupcakes. It's always good to combine two loves (Mummy and baking). :) She had tried some lavender cupcakes at a craft fair and she was surprised at how much she liked them, so I tried to recreate them for her. And, because apparently cupcakes aren't enough of a challenge, I made mini lavender shortbread hearts to go on top. (Who do I think I am, Delia?) Lol. I have never tried flavouring something with lavender because I don't really like it, but it was nice to try something different. You just get a subtle hint of lavender, which is nice; using too much would make it taste like soap lol. So that's my top tip guys; don't be tempted to add more lavender, it is very strong. Also, make sure you buy culinary lavender so you know it's safe for human consumption.

The Recipe (Makes 12)

From Cupcake Heaven by Susannah Blake (2008); London; Ryland, Peters & Small

Ingredients

• 115g caster sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon dried lavender flowers
• 115g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 115g self-raising flour
• 2 tablespoons milk

To Decorate...

• 185g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 egg white (I'm personally not really comfortable with using raw eggs, so I just used milked instead)
• Lilac food colouring
• 12 springs of fresh lavender ( I didn't use these, I used mini shortbread hearts)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.
2. Put the caster sugar and dried lavender flowers into a food processor and pulse. Tip the lavender sugar into a bowl, add the butter and beat together until pale and fluffy.
3. Beat the eggs into the butter mixture, one at a time, then sift the flour and fold in. Stir in the milk.
4. Spoon the mixture into paper cases. Bake in the preheated oven for about 18 minutes until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
5. To decorate, in a bowl, gradually beat the icing sugar into the egg white (or milk), and then add a few drops of food colouring and stir to achieve a lavender coloured icing. Spoon the icing over the cakes, then top each one with a fresh spring of lavender (or mini shortbread hearts). Leave to set before serving.

The Results!

The recipe I used for the shortbread can be found HERE. It's actually a really interesting article as well, if you like that sort of thing. I used the recipe at the bottom (the 'Perfect Shortbread'), but use whichever one you feel comfortable using. It was trial and error trying to figure out how much lavender to use; I just mixed a bit into the dough and then baked a few to try, and kept doing that until I felt it had enough lavender. I think a 1/4 teaspoon should be enough. If you don't trust my judgement (don't worry, I won't be offended), just leave the shortbread plain, and you could top each shortbread heart a with a bud of lavender just to add some colour. All in all, I think it went well, and my Mummy liked them, and that's all that really matters :).

Until Next Time Folks!

Courtney .x.