Irresistible Lavender Lemon Cupcakes: Your Perfect Springtime Dessert Recipe
Embrace the vibrant flavors of spring and summer with these absolutely irresistible lavender lemon cupcakes. Imagine a bite of pure sunshine and delicate floral sweetness: fluffy lavender-infused cupcakes, perfectly moist and tender, crowned with a rich, tangy lemon cream cheese frosting. This combination is not just delicious; it’s an experience, making these an ideal treat for any occasion or simply a delightful indulgence for yourself.
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If you’re as captivated by the bright and refreshing notes of lemon and the subtle elegance of lavender as we are, you’ll adore this lavender lemon cupcakes recipe. For more delightful bakes featuring these lovely flavors, be sure to try my Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins with Lemon Zest, my Lemon and Blackberry Cake, or my Earl Grey Lavender Cake with Honey-Lemon Glaze!
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The Best Lemon Lavender Cupcakes Recipe for Any Occasion
Sometimes, all you need is a taste of springtime to brighten your day. And when that craving strikes, these lemon lavender cupcakes are the absolute perfect indulgence. They are designed to be light, incredibly moist, and wonderfully fluffy, with a delicate hint of lavender that never overpowers, perfectly complemented by the most *amazing* lemon cream cheese buttercream frosting. Just like my popular Blueberry and Lemon Pound Cake and my luxurious Lemon Blueberry Mascarpone Cake, these cupcakes are an ideal addition to any spring or summer celebration.
Imagine serving these easy-to-make lemon lavender cupcakes at a birthday party, a baby shower, a bridal shower, or a graduation gathering! Their elegant appearance and unique flavor profile are sure to impress your guests. But let’s be honest, you don’t even need a special occasion to whip up a batch. They are simple enough to make just as a delightful treat for yourself or your family any day of the week! And if you’re planning a fun celebration for a Disney fan, these charming Rapunzel cupcakes could also be a fantastic idea.
What Does a Lavender Cupcake Truly Taste Like?
Many people are curious about the flavor of lavender in baking, and for good reason! When used correctly, the light, distinct floral flavor of lavender extract in these cupcakes is truly delightful and surprisingly subtle. It imparts a bright, ethereal, and distinctly “springtime” quality that pairs impeccably with the vibrant lemon zest and the creamy, zesty lemon cream cheese frosting. The lavender is not overwhelming; instead, it offers a gentle, aromatic whisper that elevates the entire cupcake, creating a sophisticated and refreshing taste experience. It’s like a gentle breeze carrying the scent of a blooming garden, perfectly captured in a delicious bite.
Essential Ingredients for Perfect Lavender Lemon Cupcakes
These exquisite lemon lavender cupcakes draw inspiration from my beloved mini vanilla cake recipe, inheriting its ease of preparation and its signature moist and fluffy texture. The ingredient list is thoughtfully curated to ensure a harmonious blend of flavors and a consistently delightful result. Here’s a closer look at what you’ll need for the cupcake batter:
- Large Eggs: It’s crucial for your eggs to be at room temperature. This allows them to emulsify better with other ingredients, resulting in a smoother batter and a lighter, airier cupcake texture.
- Lemon Zest: The finely grated zest of fresh lemons provides an intense, bright citrus aroma and flavor that perfectly complements the floral notes of lavender. For even more lemony goodness in your baking, explore my collection of recipes with lemon curd!
- Pure Vanilla Extract: A touch of high-quality vanilla extract provides a warm, sweet base note that beautifully balances and enhances the unique flavors of both lavender and lemon, preventing either from becoming too sharp.
- Lavender Extract: This is where the magic happens! Just a precise amount of culinary-grade lavender extract is used to infuse these cupcakes with their unique floral scent and delicate taste. I highly recommend using a reputable brand like Angel Bake for consistent results.
- Granulated Sugar: Beyond providing sweetness, sugar helps tenderize the crumb and contributes to the moistness of the cupcakes.
- Vegetable Oil: Unlike butter, vegetable oil is 100% fat, which is key to keeping these cupcakes incredibly moist and tender for days. It creates a rich, even crumb that won’t dry out easily.
- Sour Cream: Another essential ingredient for moisture and tenderness. Room temperature sour cream incorporates smoothly into the batter, adding a subtle tang and richness that keeps the cupcakes incredibly soft.
- Cake Flour: This special flour contains a lower protein content than all-purpose flour, which means less gluten development. The result? Exceptionally light, tender, and delicate cupcakes that practically melt in your mouth.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: These chemical leavening agents work together to create the perfect lift and airy texture, ensuring your cupcakes rise beautifully and are wonderfully fluffy.
- Salt: A pinch of salt is vital for balancing the sweetness and enhancing all the other flavors, making them pop.
And of course, no cupcake is complete without a luscious topping! These lavender lemon cupcakes are crowned with a quick and easy lemon cream cheese buttercream frosting that makes them utterly irresistible. For this delectable frosting, you’ll simply need:
- Cream Cheese: Full-fat and at room temperature, it forms the rich and tangy base of our signature frosting.
- Salted Butter: Also at room temperature, butter provides a creamy texture and helps stabilize the frosting. Using salted butter subtly enhances the overall flavor.
- Lemon Zest & Fresh Lemon Juice: These two components deliver a bright, zesty, and refreshing burst of lemon flavor, perfectly cutting through the sweetness of the powdered sugar.
- Powdered Sugar: Also known as confectioners’ sugar, it sweetens the frosting and gives it its smooth, pipeable consistency.
Once you have all your high-quality ingredients gathered and at the correct temperature, you’ll be well on your way to creating these spectacular lemon lavender cupcakes!
Baking Lavender Lemon Cupcakes: A Simple Step-by-Step Guide
Creating these delightful lemon lavender cupcakes is surprisingly straightforward, mirroring the simplicity of my mini vanilla cake and mini chocolate cake recipes. Most of the cupcake batter comes together in just one bowl with a whisk, making cleanup a breeze and getting them ready for the oven in mere minutes.
- Combine Wet Ingredients: Begin by vigorously beating together your room-temperature eggs, fragrant lemon zest, and both pure vanilla and lavender extracts in a large mixing bowl until the mixture becomes light and fluffy. This step incorporates air, crucial for a tender crumb. Next, gently fold in the vegetable oil and sour cream until everything is smoothly combined.
- Incorporate Dry Ingredients: Carefully sift in your cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt directly into the wet mixture. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold all the ingredients together until they are *just* combined. The key here is to avoid overmixing, as this can develop the gluten in the flour too much, leading to tough cupcakes. A few streaks of flour are perfectly fine and will disappear during baking.
- Prepare for Baking: Using a cupcake scoop or a measuring cup, fill your prepped muffin liners about two-thirds full. For an extra touch, gently tap the muffin pan on the counter from about 3 inches high a few times. This simple trick helps to release any trapped air bubbles, ensuring a more uniform and perfect dome on your baked cupcakes. Now they’re ready for the oven!
Follow these steps, and you’ll soon be enjoying freshly baked lavender lemon cupcakes with a perfect texture and incredible flavor.
Expert Tips and Frequently Asked Questions for Baking Success
Achieving bakery-quality lavender lemon cupcakes is easier than you think when you follow these helpful tips and answers to common questions:
A well-made lavender cake or cupcake tastes like springtime captured in a dessert! These particular lavender lemon cupcakes feature a delicate, almost ethereal hint of floral lavender flavor. This unique note is beautifully softened by the warmth of vanilla extract and brightened considerably by the zesty lemon cream cheese frosting. The lavender flavor in this recipe is purposefully subtle, not overpowering or soapy, ensuring a sophisticated and refreshing experience. I highly recommend using a quality lavender extract, as it allows for precise control over the intensity of the floral taste. If you’re new to baking with lavender or prefer an even more understated aroma, you can absolutely start with just half the amount of lavender extract called for in the recipe card below. You’ll still achieve beautifully flavored cupcakes with a gentle, fragrant touch.
My ultimate secret for achieving exceptionally moist lavender lemon cupcakes, much like my mini vanilla cake, is the strategic use of vegetable oil instead of relying solely on butter. While butter adds wonderful flavor, it contains about 18% water. A significant portion of this water can evaporate during the baking process or shortly after, potentially leading to drier cupcakes over time. Vegetable oil, conversely, is 100% fat. This means that all the richness and moisture it contributes to the batter remains locked within the cupcakes, keeping them incredibly tender and moist for days after they’re baked. This crucial difference ensures a consistently delightful texture that stays fresh longer.
Achieving that desirable light and fluffy texture in your lemon lavender cupcakes involves a couple of key techniques. First, it’s essential to incorporate plenty of air bubbles into the batter during the mixing process. This is why many recipes instruct you to beat wet ingredients with a whisk or an electric mixer until they appear “fluffy” or “pale and thick.” All those tiny air pockets trapped in the batter will expand when exposed to the heat of the oven, creating a beautifully airy and soft crumb in your finished cupcakes.
The second crucial factor is to prevent overmixing your batter, which can overactivate the gluten proteins in the flour. Over-developed gluten leads to a tough, dense, and chewy texture—the opposite of what we want! This is precisely why we utilize cake flour in this recipe, as it naturally has a lower gluten content compared to all-purpose flour. Furthermore, in the recipe card instructions below, you’ll notice I advise to “fold” the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. This means using a gentle motion with a spatula rather than a vigorous whisk or electric mixer, and stopping as soon as the flour streaks disappear. This careful handling ensures the gluten remains relaxed, guaranteeing the lightest, most tender texture for your delicious cupcakes.
No cake flour in your pantry? No problem! You can easily create a substitute at home to use for these lemon lavender cupcakes. All you need is regular all-purpose flour and cornstarch. The principle is to reduce the protein content of all-purpose flour to mimic cake flour. To do this, measure out 1 ¼ cups of all-purpose flour, then remove 2½ teaspoons of it and replace that amount with 2½ teaspoons of cornstarch. If you prefer measuring by weight, which is always more accurate for baking, combine 155 grams of all-purpose flour with 6 grams of cornstarch and sift them together thoroughly. As I consistently recommend, it’s best to measure dry ingredients with a kitchen scale for precision. However, if you’re measuring by volume, be sure to use the spoon-and-level method: spoon the flour into your measuring cup until overflowing, then level it off with a straight edge, rather than packing it down.
There are several effective ways to infuse delicious lavender flavor into your cakes or cupcakes. For this recipe, we’ve opted for lavender extract, which I find to be the most straightforward and consistent method, offering excellent control over the flavor intensity. Another popular technique involves using dried culinary lavender. You can steep it in warm milk or other liquid ingredients (like cream or butter) to create a fragrant infusion, then strain out the solids before adding the infused liquid to your batter. Alternatively, dried lavender can be ground finely with sugar or salt to create a fragrant blend that can be incorporated into your dry ingredients. The delicate floral notes of lavender are incredibly versatile and pair beautifully with various flavors. For an elegant touch, try serving these cupcakes alongside a light bottle of sparkling wine – perhaps even presenting it with flower ice cubes for a truly memorable brunch party!
Yes, you absolutely can freeze these lavender lemon cupcakes, both frosted and unfrosted, to enjoy them later! For best results and to preserve their fresh taste and texture, these cupcakes are ideally frozen unfrosted. Once they have completely cooled, simply wrap each individual cupcake tightly in plastic wrap, then place them in a freezer-safe bag or airtight container. They will keep beautifully for up to 2 months. If you wish to freeze them already frosted, that’s also an option. First, freeze the frosted cupcakes uncovered on a tray until the frosting is completely solid (this prevents smudging). Once firm, wrap each cupcake tightly in plastic wrap, then transfer them to an airtight container. They can be stored in the freezer for up to 2 months this way. To thaw, simply remove the wrapped cupcakes from the freezer and let them come to room temperature unwrapped on the counter. Enjoying homemade lavender lemon cupcakes whenever a craving strikes has never been easier!
If you take the plunge and try this delightful recipe, I would be absolutely thrilled if you could leave a star review rating and a comment below! Your feedback is incredibly valuable and truly wonderful to hear. And don’t forget to share your beautiful creations with me by tagging @chenee_today on Instagram!
More Lemon Recipes You’ll Love
If you’re a fan of the bright, zesty flavor of lemon, you’re in for a treat! Here are some more of my favorite lemon-infused recipes that I’m sure you’ll adore:
- Almond Lemon Cookies: Delicate and buttery cookies with a hint of almond and a burst of lemon.
- Lemon Dump Cake: An incredibly easy, flavorful, and wonderfully moist cake that practically makes itself.
- Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake: A classic, dense, and moist pound cake, elevated with the bright tang of lemon and rich sour cream.
- Vegan Olive Oil Cake with Lemon and Pistachio: A surprisingly tender and fragrant vegan cake, featuring the delightful combination of lemon and pistachio.
- Lemon Poppyseed Scones: Fluffy, crumbly scones bursting with lemon flavor and speckled with poppy seeds, perfect for breakfast or tea.
📖 Recipe
Lavender Lemon Cupcakes
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Equipment you may need
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muffin pan
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cupcake liners
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mixing bowls
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measuring cups and spoons
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whisk
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cupcake scoops
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rubber spatula
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hand mixer
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stand mixer
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pastry bag and tips
Ingredients
- baking spray
- 2 large egg – room temperature
- 2 teaspoon (4 g) lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) pure vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoon (10 ml) lavender extract
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoon (89 ml) vegetable oil
- ⅔ cup (153 g) sour cream – room temperature
- 1 ¼ cup (156 g) cake flour 163g
- 1.5 teaspoon (7 ml) baking powder
- 0.5 teaspoon (2 ml) salt
- 0.25 teaspoon (1 ml) baking soda
Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- 8 oz (227 g) cream cheese – full-fat, room temperature
- 5 tablespoon (74 ml) salted butter – room temperature
- 4½ cups (540 g) powdered sugar – (526g), plus an additional ½ cup if needed
- 1 tablespoon (8 g) lemon zest
- 1 ½ tablespoon (22 ml) fresh lemon juice
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners and spray them lightly with baking spray for easy release.baking spray
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In a large mixing bowl, using a whisk or electric mixer, beat together the room-temperature large eggs, fragrant lemon zest, pure vanilla extract, and delicate lavender extract until the mixture is visibly fluffy and lighter in color. This step is crucial for incorporating air.2 large egg – room temperature, 2 teaspoon lemon zest, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 2 teaspoon lavender extract
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Gradually add in the granulated sugar, continuing to whip the mixture until it’s fluffy, well combined, and slightly pale. Ensure the sugar is fully dissolved.1 cup granulated sugar
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Gently mix in the vegetable oil and room-temperature sour cream until the batter is smooth and homogenous. Be careful not to overmix at this stage.6 tablespoon vegetable oil, ⅔ cup sour cream – room temperature
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Sift the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt directly over the wet ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, carefully fold everything together until the dry ingredients are *just* combined. Stop mixing as soon as no more dry streaks are visible to ensure a tender crumb.1 ¼ cup cake flour 163g, 0.5 teaspoon salt, 0.25 teaspoon baking soda, 1.5 teaspoon baking powder
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Evenly distribute the batter among the prepared cupcake liners, filling each approximately two-thirds full. Gently drop the muffin pan onto the counter from about 3 inches high a couple of times; this helps remove any large air bubbles and promotes a flatter, more even top.
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Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, or until the centers are springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached. Avoid overbaking. Once baked, allow the cupcakes to cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before attempting to decorate them.
Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
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In a large bowl using a hand mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the softened full-fat cream cheese and room-temperature salted butter until the mixture is completely smooth, creamy, and free of lumps.8 oz cream cheese, 5 tablespoon salted butter
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Add the lemon zest and fresh lemon juice to the cream cheese mixture, and beat until they are thoroughly combined and the frosting is fragrant with citrus.1 tablespoon lemon zest, 1 ½ tablespoon fresh lemon juice
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Gradually add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, continuing to mix on low speed until the sugar is incorporated. Once all sugar is added, increase the speed and beat for an additional 1-2 minutes until you’ve achieved a smooth, light, and fluffy consistency. If needed, add an additional ½ cup of powdered sugar to reach your desired stiffness.4½ cups powdered sugar
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Once your cupcakes are completely cooled, spread the lemon cream cheese buttercream frosting generously over each, or pipe it elegantly using a pastry bag and decorative tips.
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Notes
Cake Flour Substitute: If you don’t have cake flour on hand, you can easily create a substitute for these lemon lavender cupcakes! All you need is all-purpose flour and cornstarch. To make it, measure out 1 cup plus 1½ tablespoons of all-purpose flour. Then, remove 2½ tablespoons of that all-purpose flour and replace it with 2½ tablespoons of cornstarch. In terms of weight, this translates to 131 grams of all-purpose flour sifted with 25 grams of cornstarch. For the most accurate baking results, it’s always recommended to measure ingredients by weight using a kitchen scale. However, if you’re measuring by volume, be sure to use the spoon-and-level method to prevent compacting the flour.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
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