Lemon Lavender Cupcakes

Lemon lavender cupcakes

It is hot. Very hot indeed and I am just loving it. The sun just bakes down and it feels great. I wouldn’t be anywhere else except here in our village of Assos. You can’t beat summer in Turkey.

Lavender in our garden

Meanwhile, on the cooking front, life goes on…. we have had family and friends to stay and amongst trips to Apollon Smintheion, Bozcaada, local walks in the ruins and the village, not to mention the beach and swimming, food continues to play its part.

I always find inspiration in what we have and in the garden right now – actually it is the very end – is lavender. This heat is drying it up in front of our eyes. If you rub a flower between your fingers, the scent is very much there however. So what better than these little cupcakes? You don’t need much lavender.

I happened to have the cupcake cases leftover from TT’s birthday – otherwise, forget it, you would never find those around here.

A quick search on Google produced this recipe from the blog Art of Natural Living.

Her cupcakes are beautifully iced with butter creme whereas I decided that we didn’t need all those extra calories and did a very simple little lemon glacé icing.Mine look very homemade whereas hers look pretty professional with the swirl of multi-coloured icing atop each cupcake! But the taste of the actual cupcake is excellent: the infusion of lavender flowers in the granulated sugar is a tip worth remembering. The taste is not too strong but definitely there. The lavender flavour permeates the recipe delightfully so make sure you too mix those flowers into the sugar the night before.

Mine look very homemade whereas hers look pretty professional with the swirl of multi-coloured icing atop each cupcake!But the taste of the actual cupcake is excellent: the infusion of lavender flowers in the granulated sugar is a tip worth remembering. The taste is not too strong but definitely there. The lavender flavour permeates the recipe delightfully so make sure you too mix those flowers into the sugar the night before.

But the taste of the actual cupcake is excellent: the infusion of lavender flowers in the granulated sugar is a tip worth remembering.The taste is not too strong but definitely there. The lavender flavour permeates the recipe delightfully so make sure you too mix those flowers into the sugar the night before.

The taste is not too strong but definitely there. The lavender flavour permeates the recipe delightfully so make sure you too mix those flowers into the sugar the night before.

Lemon lavender cupcakes

Here is the lavender sugar mixed with the lemon zest and flour

Just out of the oven

• Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
• In a small bowl, combine 2 tbsp milk, egg whites and vanilla extract. Whisk to blend.
• In a second larger bowl, combine the flour, sugar/lavender mixture, cornstarch, lemon zest, baking powder, and salt. Mix briefly on low speed to combine, about 30 seconds.
• Add in the butter and mix on low speed until the mixture resembles wet sand, about 30 seconds.
• Mix in the remaining 3/8 cup milk, then increase the speed to medium and beat for about 2 minutes more.
• With the mixture on low speed, add the egg white mixture in three additions, mixing for about 20 seconds after each addition. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
• Fill each of the 12 cupcake papers in the 12-hole pan about 2/3 of the way full.
• Bake in the preheated oven, rotating the pan halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Let cool in the pan briefly, then transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.