ICE: Lavender & Mint Cupcakes

This is my first Iron Cupcakes: Earth challenge! Wooh!
Imagine my surprise when I checked the site and saw that the theme was HERBS.
"Holy moly, how'm I gonna pull this one off?" (oh yes, that's how I talk.)
After MUCH thought, I decided on a lavender cupcake with mint buttercream.
It took a lot of searching to find reasonably priced culinary lavender (which I got here, by the way), but once I did, it was ON. (like Donkey Kong. Ha)

HEY. BEFORE YOU GET TOO COMFORTABLE, DON'T FORGET TO VOTE FOR ME ON THE 28TH OF JULY HERE: http://www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com/, in the right hand column. Tell your friends to vote, too! Oh, and vote for my other two entries, Strawberry Basil and Pear Sage! :)

Now let's take a break for station identification. I mean, now here's a word from our sponsors.
I mean...
Haha, here are the prizes that the top cupcake will win this month:

Etsy prize-pack:
A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH
A delicious treat from CIRCLEMONKEY
a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery
CAKESPY,who is now going to be doing a piece for the winner each month until further notice

Corporate prizes:
HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS
HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson
JESSIE STEELE APRONS
TASTE OF HOME books
a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM
Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers


Whew. Now on to the fun stuff.


Dried lavender

Lavender syrup

The lavender's like sprinkles!




Lavender cupcakes with Mint swiss buttercream:

2 Cups of sugar
2 1/2 Cups of flour
2 tsps of baking soda
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of salt
2 eggs
1 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup of vegetable/canola oil
1/2 cup of lavender syrup (recipe to follow)
1/2 cup of water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
Combine and mix. Hehe. My favorite cake recipes require very little direction.
Fill tin 3/4 of the way with batter.
Cook until they pass the FABLED CRUMB TEST.
Let cool for 10 minutes, then remove from tin and let cook on wire racks.


Lavender syrup:
2 cups of water
2 cups of sugar
3 tablespoons of dried culinary lavender

BOIL IT ALL. BOIL IT. For about 10 minutes.
Then, pour it all into a container and let sit in the fridge overnight.
Strain out the lavender and store in a bottle/jar/whatever in the fridge.


Mint buttercream:
Directions here
Replace the chocolate with mint syrup (made the same way as the lavender kind) or mint extract.




Easy peasy lemon squeezy. :)

Share