A recipe for Lemon Lavender Cupcakes that is lemony, floral, and delicious. These cupcakes are unique and beautiful and everything is made from scratch!
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This recipe is an oldy but a goody, I first made these almost 10 years ago and it's still one of my favorites! For some reason, lemon and lavender go perfectly together, like in my Lemon Lavender Tart and my Lavender Lemon Drop.
Why You Will Love These Cupcakes
This Lemon Lavender Cupcake Recipe offers the perfect balance of zesty citrus and subtle floral notes, just like my Lilac Cupcakes, creating the perfect flavor combination. The moist texture and elegant aroma make it a treat that's as pleasing to the palate as it is to the senses.
Key Ingredient For This Recipe
- Dried Lavender Buds - Make sure you find culinary lavender buds for baking. They have a sweeter flavor and are harvested specifically for cooking.
- Fresh Lemon Juice and Zest- freshly squeezed lemon juice is one of the main ingredients that add the most flavor to this recipe. Don't use the bottle stuff, it has added ingredients that will completely change the flavor of these cupcakes.
- Unsalted Butter - unsalted butter is what I recommend for this recipe but you can use salted butter if that is what you have on hand. Just omit the salt from the recipe. Just like the eggs and milk, the butter needs to be at room temperature as well.
- Vegetable Shortening - vegetable shortening is for the frosting recipe and is optional. It helps the frosting hold its structure for piping. If you don't want to use vegetable shorting, you can substitute room-temperature butter instead.
*See the recipe card for the complete list of ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Lemon Lavender Cupcakes
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC) and prepare a cupcake pan with liners.
Step 2: Mix together the dry ingredients and set them aside.
Step 3: Cream the butter and sugar together then add the egg and lemon zest.
Step 4: Incorporate the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients including the milk in three intervals, being careful not to overmix.
Step 5: Fill the prepared liners and bake for 20-22 minutes.
Step 6: Make the Lemon Buttercream Frosting while the cupcakes are cooling. Cream the butter and shortening for 3-5 minutes.
Step 7: Gradually add the powdered sugar one cup at a time. After 4 cups, add the milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Add more powdered sugar if desired until you get the sweetness and consistency you like.
Step 8: Once the cupcakes have cooled, frost each one using a frosting tip. Sprinkle with lavender buds if desired.
Expert Tips For This Recipe
- To easily fill a piping bag, place it in a tall, shallow glass and fold it over the edges. You can easily fill the bag without making a mess!
- You could also make lavender sugar ahead of time and add it in place of sugar and buds.
- If you want a lighter cupcake, you can make a lemon glaze instead of buttercream. Just mix 1 cup powdered sugar, 4-5 teaspoons lemon juice, and lemon zest.
Recipe FAQs
The vegetable shortening is optional. If you do not want to add shortening, just use all butter (2 sticks). The vegetable shortening helps make the frosting just a bit firmer and creates a little bit of a crust after piping which I like. I also wanted to make the rose pattern using the Wilton 2D tip and knew that the frosting needed to be firm.
To get the beautiful and authentic lavender flavor, you will use dried lavender buds. Although all lavender is edible, you want to use culinary lavender because it has a sweeter flavor.
Regular lavender is more bitter. Most of the dried lavender you find in-store and online are culinary but double-check the description or ask if you are not sure. You don't need much to get the perfect lavender flavor, these cupcakes only call for 1 ½ tsp!
More Unique Lavender Recipes
If you get a chance to make these Lemon Lavender Cupcakes, tag me on Instagram or Facebook and show me, or leave a review below! You can also follow me on Pinterest and sign up for my e-mail list to receive more fun and delicious recipes in your inbox.
Lemon Lavender Cupcakes
Equipment
Ingredients
Lemon Lavender Cupcakes
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoon dried lavender buds
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 large egg, room temp
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest (zest your lemon before you juice it!)
- 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ½ cup milk, room temp
Lemon Frosting
- 12 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temp (¾ cup)
- 4 tablespoon vegetable shortening
- 4-5 cups powdered confectioners sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon milk or heavy cream
- 4 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- fresh or dried lavender buds for decoration
Instructions
Lemon Lavender Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line your cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
- Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and lavender buds in a mixing bowl together and set aside.
- In another bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, this takes a few minutes. Beat in the egg, lemon zest, and lemon juice until combined.
- Add about a third of the dry ingredients and mix them into the butter mixture using a spatula or spoon. Be careful not to over mix, or your cupcakes will be dense. Add half of the milk and mix it in. Add another third of the dry ingredients and combine. Add the rest of the milk and the rest of the dry ingredients and mix just until combined.
- Fill liners with batter and bake for 20-22 minutes. Allow the cupcakes to cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then place on a cooling rack to cool completely.
Lemon Buttercream Frosting
- Add the butter and shortening to a mixing bowl and beat until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Gradually add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time. After 4 cups, add the vanilla, milk, lemon juice, and zest. Add more powdered sugar if desired.
- Fill a piping bag with frosting and put some onto each of the cooled cupcakes. After each cupcake has frosting on it, sprinkle with lavender buds so that they stick when the frosting hardens. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- To easily fill a piping bag, place it in a tall, shallow glass and fold it over the edges. You can easily fill the bag without making a mess!
- You could also make lavender sugar ahead of time and add it in place of sugar and buds. See my post on 5 Things you can do with your Coffee Grinder for how to do that!
- If you want a lighter cupcake, you can make a lemon glaze instead of the buttercream. Just mix 1 cup powdered sugar, 4-5 teaspoons lemon juice, and lemon zest.
- Nutrition facts calculated using milk.
Nutrition
Any nutrition calculations are only estimates using online calculators. Please verify using your own data.
Lisa Barna says
I just made these as mini cupcakes. I added extra lavender and some butterfly pea flower powder for color. Great recipe and delicious! They just came out of the oven so I have not made the icing yet but boy oh boy, these cupcakes are really good. Thank you.
Lisa
Emily says
Thanks, Lisa, I'm so glad you enjoyed them. They are one of my favorites for sure! 🙂
Lisa says
Made these as mini cupcakes. They are beautiful and tasty. They are stronger on the lemon than the lavender but I think people will enjoy them very much!
Emily says
I hope everyone loves them! Thanks, Lisa.