I know that no one needs to be reminded that I love cupcakes.

But just in case you do…

I LOVE THEM I LOVE THEM I LOVE THEM. I love them so much that my obsession justifies my lack on punctuation.

I also love making them. And buying stuff to make them pretty.

Hence the purchase of these lavender cupcake liners.

Remember a million years ago when I explored St. Lawrence Market in Toronto? In that post, I raved about this wonderful kitchen supply shop they had set up in the middle of the second floor. It was here, that I found these beauties.

I have wanted to make lavender cupcakes ever since.

Since I’m really rather logical, I chose Thursday, the hottest day on record since 1956 to bake things. No, I did not bake them outside. You’re funny, though. Luckily for me, my awesomely super student home came equipped with AC. This blast of cold air made mixing, scooping, piping and living tolerable.

It turns out that because these cupcake liners were so gigantic, I was unable to correctly estimate the amount of batter that was to go in each. And so, the Godzilla-sized cupcakes were born. My doubled (thank god I did this) recipe made a dozen of them, and frankly, each cupcake is the size of a small coffee mug. They were good though, so I didn’t mind. I also still managed to eat two (mom: this does not warrant another hyper-concerned type two diabetes email, but thanks for having my back).

Also, holy cow these were awesome. Seriously, really, really yummy. And I consider myself fairly well versed when it comes to cupcake tasting. The lemon and lavender flavours were balanced in the perfectly moist cake, and the cream cheese icing had a nice citrusy shot. Okay, maybe the icing was a little too sweet for some, BUT I LIKED IT.

Anyways, I took plenty of pictures of my cupcakes in bloom. Since she demanded that I do this, I must say that Ariel was the photo director for this cupcake shoot. She stood outside in a completely inappropriate heatwave day outfit and held cupcakes in the blistering sun while I snapped at my cupcakes from all angles. She also had the idea for the sunflower leaf photos. Very Thumbelina, n’est ce pas?

I have more than half a dozen cupcakes leftover, as of Friday evening. Perhaps I will give them away, or perhaps I will eat them all in one sitting and let a stomach ache blossom in my stomach. Yeah, I just went there.

Update: I brought the cupcakes to a fiesta-themed party I went to Friday night. It was Mexican-themed and they were boys. Could I get the theme anymore wrong?

Recipe: Lavender lemon cupcake blooms with a lemon cream cheese icing
Adapted from Yummy Mummy Kitchen
Cupcake
– 1 cup granulated sugar
– 3/4 tsp lavender flower (bought from the Natural Food Pantry or another bulk store. It cost me 71 cents.)
– 1/2 tsp lemon zest
– 1 cup butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
– 4 eggs
– 2 cups flour
– 3 tbsp baking powder
– 4 tbsp milk

Pour sugar into a medium-sized bowl. Add the lemon zest and lavender flower. Using your hands, run the flower and zest into the sugar, until fragrant. The zest will get mostly combined in, but the lavender flower will still resemble tiny pellets. This is normal. Do not worry. Set aside.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter. Add the sugar and mix until combined and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Sift in flour and baking powder and mix to combine. Finally, carefully stir in the milk.

Scoop the cupcake batter into lined muffin tins, filling them up about 3/4 way too much. They will rise quite a bit. Be cautious.

Bake in the oven at 325° until the cupcakes have risen and a toothpick inserted in the centre of one comes out clean. About 15-18 minutes for my cupcakes, since they were massive. Probably more like 12 minutes for normal sized cupcakes.

Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely (!!) before icing (see recipe below).

Makes either a dozen huge cupcakes or 20 normal sized ones.

Lemon cream cheese icing
– 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
– 1/4 cup butter
– 1/2 tsp vanilla
– 1/2 tsp lemon zest
– 4 tsp fresh lemon juice
– 4 cups icing sugar
– Lavender flower, for garnish

Using an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese and the butter. Add the vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice, mixing to combine.  Add the icing sugar, one cup at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Use either a piping bag or Ziplock bag with a hole cut out of it to pipe the icing onto the cool cupcakes. Or if you don’t want to pipe, just use a spoon to scoop it on carefully. It will still taste the same. Garnish the topic of the icing with a few lavender flowers.

Serve immediately or refrigerate in between cupcake gorging.