Lemon Lavender Cupcakes

I am currently obsessed with lavender.
I want to put it in everything I bake and cook.

Like - lavendar roast chicken?! Yes please! Or lavender crème brûlée!? Oh my!

For the baby shower however, I decided to make cupcakes so I could decorate them all cute - just like Martha would. These, like my Dutch Apple Pie, are totally not gluten-free, low-glycemic or Dukan friendly.

So - how did I make these cupcakes?

Easy as pie...but not Dutch Apple Pie (that was super hard).

What You'll Need:

• A vanilla cupcake mix from the grocery store (I know...mega cheat, I can feel Martha shaking her head). My cake mix called for the following to be added: 2 eggs, 100ml skim milk, 1/3 cup room temperature butter
• 1 Tbsp dried lavender
• 1 large lemon for zesting and juicing

What You'll Do:

• Zest your lemon
• Pestle up your dried lavender so it is a bit more fine
• Add the two eggs and milk into the pre-made cake mix
• Blend with your hand mixer until smooth
• Slowly chunk in the room temperature butter and mix until very smooth
• Add in your lavender and lemon zest
• Squeeze half of your lemon into the mix (I usually pre-squeeze the lemon over a separate bowl so I can remove all seeds first)
• Mix thoroughly
• Pour into 12, lined cupcake tins
• Bake for how long your boxed mix said to at the heat it told you to. Mine said 20 minutes at 180C (or 350F)
• Let cool completely before you decorate - nobody likes runny icing

Ideas for Decorating:

• I made a simple glaze for my cupcakes as I am not an icing/frosting fan
• You can add some lemon juice into your glaze and even add a few dried lavender flowers on top to really hit it home that you are a culinary wizard
• I made a lemon lavender cake a few weeks back, and instead of a glaze, I candied lemons and added the lemon-infused simple syrup over the top (yeah I did!).

Anyway, here is what they look like - I think they look pretty darn cute!

STEWART SCORE:
Appearance: 2
Taste: 2 (they were a hit!)
Ease: 2 (they would still rank a 2 even if you don't cheat and use a boxed mix)