Lavender Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

The smell & flavor of lavender will always remind me of Maui. When Matt & I went there two years ago we spent a day in the Upcountry visiting the Surfing Goat Dairy, the Tedeschi Vineyards and Winery & the Ali'i Kula Lavender Farm. It was a rather cold, foggy day on this part of the island & the lavender farm offered the perfect treat.

They sold lavender scones which were then heated up & served with different lavender butters & honey. They were so good & ever since I've been planning on doing some of my own baking with lavender.

I bought some lavender sugar one day at a deli in Bolinas & recently I bought some culinary lavender at the local market.

Since I'm currently on a cupcake kick it seemed lavender cupcakes were in order.

Ah, a little bit of Maui in Minneapolis in February.

Cupcakes

1/2 c room temp unsalted butter
7 T lavender sugar
1 C all purpose flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 eggs
1 - 3 T milk

Preheat oven to 400. Cream butter & sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time, beat in well. Mix in flour, baking powder & salt. Slowly add milk until desired consistency (I needed almost the whole 3).
Evenly fill 12 muffin cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Makes 12
adapted from Nigella Lawson's Forever Summer.

Chocolate Frosting

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine
2/3 cup dutch processes cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla.

About 2 cups frosting.

This is the Hersey's Perfectly Chocolate frosting recipe but I used dutch processed cocoa instead. This is a really good chocolate frosting!