Miniature Lavender Cupcakes with Honeyed Frosting + My Favorite Photography Book

Rue des Ecoles

A Whiter Shade of Pale



Emilie79 is one of my favorite photographers. She has a great eye, and works in my most beloved medium: polaroid photography. It is her work that propelled my interest in the Polaroids.
A few months ago, I found out about her book, and purchased it immediately. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is a beautiful book of 120 pages, each with a lovely Polaroid photograph, each section organized by the type of camera (i.e., SX-70, Polaroid 180) and film used.
If you are interested in purchasing your own copy, you can contact Emilie79 directly through Flickrmail.
{You can also see my previous post about her here}


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I decided to make lavender cupcakes for two reasons: one, I've never liked lavender flavors or scents, and I wanted to try something homemade that involved it, and second, because I wanted something pretty to eat. I just wish I could change the name. The word 'mini' is so overused, it brings to mind those tiny dogs that women carry in the purses. Anyway, it doesn't aptly describe these teeny-tiny little bites. The paper baking cups used to bake them are about the size of a chocolate-truffle holder. You can eat them in a single bite, or two, but not any more.
Mini Lavender Cupcakes with Honey-Mascarpone frosting
Makes 36 bite-sized cupcakes
Cupcakes:
-7 tbsp butter
-3 1/2 tbsp dried lavender
-1/4 cup sugar
-1 medium egg (don't use extra-large or the cupcakes will be too tough and eggy)
-2 tbsp milk
-1/2 cup flour
-1/2 tsp baking powder
-1/4 tsp salt
Frosting:
-1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter, softened (also see note)
-6 oz mascarpone at room temperature, strained to remove excess liquid (or use the same amount of cream cheese)
-1/2 cup of powdered sugar
-2 tbsp mild-flavored honey
Decoration: a few tsp of fleur de sel and a tbsp of dried lavender flowers

To infuse the butter: Begin by infusing the butter with the lavender. To do this, cut the butter into cubes and place into a small saucepan over medium-heat. Add the lavender. Once butter has melted, reduce heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally and do not allow the butter to brown. Remove from heat, allow the butter to cool for 5 minutes. Strain the melted, lavender-scented butter, pressing down on the dried lavender to maximize the amount of butter and the intensity of the lavender flavor. You should have over 1/4 cup of butter remaining. You should also have a heavenly kitchen scented with warm butter and clean lavender. Inhale. Enjoy.
Bring the butter to room temperature (you can speed up the process by sticking the butter in the refrigerator for about 1/2 hour, but you will have to stir it every 5-10 minutes).
While the butter is cooling, make the frosting: Beat together the butter, mascarpone, and powdered sugar until fluffy. Add honey and beat until smooth. If it is too soft, you can refrigerate while the infused butter is cooling.
To make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 325 degree f. Beat together the lavender-infused butter and sugar. Add the egg and milk. In a separate smaller bowl, combine salt, baking powder, and flour. Add this mixture to the butter-sugar-egg mixture.
Use 2 very small (1 inch diameter) paper baking cups per cupcake (see here, I used the 0.7 oz ones). Spoon 1 tsp of batter into each double cupcake paper. Place the filled cupcake paper cups onto a baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until a cake test inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
Allow the cupcakes to cool for approximately 10 minutes. Then, smooth frosting over each one, use a butter knife/cheese spreader to level to the frosting with the top of the cupcake paper cup. Sprinkle about 5 lavender blossoms and a few grains of fleur de sel over each one.
Note: You can also use lavender-infused butter (or store-bought lavender-infused honey) for the frosting. For butter infusion, use approximately 1 tbsp of dried lavender per 2 tbsp of butter.
Also note that the lavender-fleur de sel topped ones have a more complex and concentrated lavender taste than the candy-flower cupcakes. The fleur de sel truly heightens all of the flavors.


p.s. I DID enjoy the lavender cupcakes, and I liked the ones with lavender on top better than the candy-flower topped ones. I liked them so much that I ate eight - yes eight in one sitting!