Lemon Lavender Cupcakes – easy lemon cupcakes with lavender buttercream frosting, topped with lavender flowers and fresh lemon slices. A new cupcake recipe by our contributor, Lindsay Conchar.
These Lemon Lavender Cupcakes are so light in flavor and will have your taste buds dying for spring! The sweet lemon cupcake with the light lavender frosting is such a delicious and fun combination!
So these cupcakes are totally getting me in the mood for spring! I know it’s still February, but we’ve had such crazy weather this winter that our bulb flowers are already starting to come through and have been for weeks now. I’m pretty sure we’ll have tulips by the end of the month. It’s nutty!
Our weather goes back and forth from being sunny and cold to rainy/cloudy and around 65 constantly. It’s no wonder the flowers don’t know whether to wait or just bloom. Every time I go to grab a jacket when I walk our dog, I have to open the door and see if it’s a light jacket kind of day or a heavy jacket, hat and gloves kind of day. You just never know! So these cupcakes are perfect to carry me into spring in February.
Lately I’ve been into trying out some of the floral flavorings that are available. I’ve always wanted to try them. I made a cake with rose water a few weeks ago and was surprised by how much I loved the flavor, as did my taste testers. It certainly had a floral element to it, but it was like candied flowers, if you can imagine it.
So naturally I was excited to give lavender a try after loving the rose water so much. Yet again, I was pleased with the flavor! Certainly a bit floral, but not in such a way that it’s unappealing to eat. It smells more floral then it tastes, which is kind of neat. Lavender is known for helping with sleep and relaxation, so it’d make sense to have these cupcakes as a late night treat. The sugar might give you an energy bump, but surely the lavender will relax you. 😉
The lavender is also wonderful with the lemon. It complements the floral element really well. The lemon is incorporated into the cupcake with some fresh lemon juice and lemon zest. For the frosting, I used lavender extract and a sprinkling of lavender flowers for decorating.
These Lemon Lavender Cupcakes turned out great! The lemon cupcake is light and moist and the lavender frosting is soft and lovely. Together they make a great cupcake for trying something new or a fun get together. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!
Lemon Lavender Cupcakes
Lemon Lavender Cupcakes – easy lemon cupcakes with lavender buttercream frosting, topped with lavender flowers and fresh lemon slices.
- Yield: 12 - 14 Cupcakes
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Lemon Cupcakes:
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 6 tablespoons sour cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
- 3 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 tablespoon water
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (1–2 lemons)
For the Lavender Frosting:
- 1/2 cup salted butter
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2–3 tablespoons water or milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/4 teaspoon lavender extract
- Violet gel paste color, optional
- Lavender flowers
- 6–7 Lemon slices, cut in half
Instructions
- To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C) and prepare a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light in color and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the sour cream, vanilla extract and lemon zest and mix until well combined.
- Add the egg whites in two batches, mixing until well combined after each. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Combine the dry ingredients in another bowl, then combine milk, water and lemon juice in a measuring cup.
- Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until well combined.
- Add the milk mixture and mix until well combined.
- Add remaining dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Fill cupcake liners about ¾ full. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few crumbs.
- Remove cupcakes from oven and allow to cool for 2-3 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to finish cooling.
- While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting. Beat the butter and shortening together until smooth.
- Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
- Add about 2 tablespoons of water or milk and the extracts and mix until smooth.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add additional water or milk, if needed.
- Add violet icing color to the frosting until it reaches the desired shade of purple.
- Pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes using a closed star piping tip like this one. Top the cupcakes with a sprinkle of lavender and half a slice of lemon.
Notes
- To make the frosting all butter, replace the 1/2 cup shortening with an additional 1/2 cup salted butter.
MORE LEMON CAKE RECIPES TO TRY:
Wow it so nice as we try it in our home your idea is amazing
I made these for a friend’s birthday and they were delicious! Everyone was raving about them. Thank you for the recipe!
I just made these for my best friend’s birthday and we LOVED them. The cake is so light and fluffy!
I have these in the oven now and 15-17 minute cooking time is not nearly enough. I’m not sure why, but at 15 min. they were still just wet batter. I’ve checked every five minutes and it looks like they might be done at 30 minutes. I hope they turn out OK.
Have you ever checked if your oven temperature is accurate? It’s possible that your oven calibration is a little off. See the big difference it can make in our baking experiment HERE.
Have you ever converted this to a full-size cake?
No, but I’m sure it would be delicious! You’d want to double this recipe for a cake.
Loving the contrast between the lavender frosting and the yellow lemon. Looking forward to try this recipe.
What tip did you use to pipe the frosting? Also, could you use lavender flavouring instead of extract?
Lindsay used a closed star piping tip, like an Ateco #844. Shopping links included above!
It looks great, I’m going home to prepare the ingredients
Can you substitute gluten free flour 1:1 in this recipe?
Ah, we have not tested this recipe with gluten free flour. Let us know if you do!
I just made gluten-free version for my son’s birthday! It was a profound success! Baked for 20 min
Would these work as mini cupcakes? If so, how long would you bake them?
Sure! I’d start checking them around 9 to 10 minutes. Keep a close eye on them – since mini cupcakes are so tiny it’s easy to over bake them. Enjoy!
These cupcakes are beautiful! I love the colors especially, though the flavors sound amazing too. I’ve always wanted to try experimenting with lavender and earl grey. Definitely need to give this a try.
Hope you love them Colleen!
The frosting was extremely over powering and made me feel ill. Thanks
What do you class as shorting
Beware on how much lavender extract to users the frosting. The variety I used must have been strong because the flavor was overwhelming and next time I’ll add it a half or even quarter teaspoon at a time. Other than that it was delicious.
I just made lavendar infused sugar( 1tbs lavendar buds food processed with 2 cups granulated sugar) Do you think I could sub the 3/4 sugar in the cupcake part with 3/4 of the infused sugar?
HEB used to carry Lavendar paste but they dont carry it any longer & I’m too impatient to wait to place an online order.
Thank you!
Can I use butter as a substitute for shortening?