Happy Belated Birthday to my dear dear friend and co-blogger, Jerica! Actually her birthday was a while ago but she had been in Hawaii- putting a hold on her birthday celebration. We booked a hotel down in Denver for a sweet hotel soireeeee, had dinner at Linger (a restaurant that used to be a Mortuary), and a night full of festivities at the bars!
I initially wanted to make a cake and bring it to dinner- but that seemed like it’d end up being more work than needed. So I went with a Honey Almond and Lavender (gluten free!) cupcake with a salted honey cream cheese frosting. Sounds like a bit much but it is really a lightly sweet and floral cupcake!
Honey Almond Lavender Cupcake
PREP TIME: 30 MIN. TOTAL TIME: 1 HOUR
MAKES A DOZEN
FOR THE BATTER:
½ cup organic butter
2 cage free eggs
1¾ cup gluten free all purpose flour
1½ teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon dried lavender
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup organic raw sugar
¼ cup organic honey
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
½ cup vanilla almond milk
FOR THE FROSTING:
8 ounces soften organic cream cheese
3 tablespoon soften organic butter
¼ cup organic honey
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups organic powder sugar
2 tablespoon lavender
2 teaspoon of sea salt
1. Let butter and cream cheese sit at room temperature to soften up.
2. Preheat oven to 350°. Set up the cupcake wrappers into a muffin pan to maintain shape. Whisk together all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Beat ½ cup of butter with an electric mixer. Add sugar, ¼ cup of honey, 1 teaspoon almond and teaspoon vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed and slowly add in eggs.
4. Slowly sift the dry mixture into the beater. Add in ½ cup of vanilla almond milk. Beat on medium speed until all is blended into a smooth and creamy consistency. Add more almond milk if needed.
5. Spoon batter into cupcake holders about ¾ of the way full. Bake for 12 minutes and cool before frosting. Double check the cupcake is fully cooked by poking the middle with a tooth pick- if it comes out dry than its done! If not leave in for a few more minutes to cook.
6. Prepare the frosting while the cupcake cools. Let the 3 tablespoon of butter and 8 ounces of cream cheese soften at room temperature. Beat together softened butter and cream cheese on medium. Drizzle in the ¼ cup honey and ½ teaspoon vanilla. Sift in the powder sugar slowly and beat until smooth and thick.
7. In a small bowl mix together 2 tablespoon of sea salt and 2 tablespoon of lavender evenly to create Lavender Salt for the topping.
8. Once cooled begin frosting the cupcakes using a pastry bag and frosting tip. Sprinkle each frosted cupcake with the Lavender Salt topping mixture and toasted almond slivers for texture. ENJOY
