Lavender Spring

I love to bake.  There is something soothing about finding flavors that compliment each other and all the mixing and even playing around in all the flour.  It makes me feel like Dr. Frankenstein but my creations are always way tastier but not necessarily better behaved. 

Yesterday I found a blog called The Cupcake Project and she had posted a reminder about a contest she is hosting called The Ice Cream Cupcake Contest.  It is also being hosted by Scoopalicious, for those who dig ice cream more than cupcakes.  I definitely wanted to play. The first thing that popped into my brain was, “Oooh pink armadillo tequila!!” (we got new samples at work and I am ADD).  After I fawned a bit over the bottle, I started thinking cupcakes again and thought about lavender.  I had made some lavender shortbread cookies not too long ago and they were beyond amazing.  Now that I have found out how delicious lavender was, I try and sneak it into anything and everything.  I decided to make lavender cupcakes with natural vanilla bean ice cream inside, topped with orange/lime cream cheese frosting.  The combination reminds me of spring time so I named my creation, Lavender Spring.

The recipe for these amazing little beasts…

Lavender Cupcakes

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp dried lavender flowers

1/2 cup unsalted butters

2 eggs

1 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Put sugar and the lavender flowers in a food processor and process briefly to combine.
3. Combine lavender sugar and butter in a bowl and beat until pale sand fluffy.
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating and mixing completely between additions.
5. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into the butter mixture and fold in.
6. Still in milk.
7. Spoon mixture into cupcake pan.  Bake in preheated oven for about 18 min.  The cupcake is down when golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
8. Cool on a wire rack.

Orange/Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 cup butter

8oz cream cheese

1/2 tsp orange and lime zest

2 tsp orange and lime juice

2 cups powdered sugar

Directions

1. Combine butter and cream cheese and beat until combined
2. Add half of the powdered sugar, citrus juice, and zest to the butter/cream cheese mixture and beat on high speed to combine.
3. Add remaining powdered sugar in stages until desired consistency and sweetness is achieved.

Assembly

I cut off the top of the cupcake and used a grapefruit spoon to dig a hole in the bottom half.  I added some all natural vanilla bean ice cream to the hole, then added back its cupcake hat.  I froze the cupcakes for about ten minutes to let the ice cream harden up again.  Once they were nice and chilly, I piped a swirl of frosting and garnished it with some more dried lavender flowers.

I’ve never seen the boys eat something so fast.  Plus, once I found the dogs fighting over the cupcake that they stole while it was cooling on the rack, I knew they were good.

And I think that I need to work on my food photography…