Honey Lavender Cupcakes

by Katie Stymiest | Mar 31, 2021 | Cakes | 49 comments

Light purple cupcakes with a drizzle of honey on the frosting

Honey and lavender. A flavor match made in spring heaven. And these small-batch Honey Lavender Cupcakes are a true love pairing. Topped with fluffy honey lavender buttercream frosting, these moist and naturally sweetened cupcakes are baked to perfection.

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How Do You Bake Honey Lavender Cupcakes?

There are a few different techniques for baking with lavender and I’ve tried my fair share but my most favorite way is with lavender milk. A simple homemade milk mixture that steeps with dried lavender to produce gorgeously floral milk in both taste and scent.

The best part about lavender milk is that there won’t be any chewy grainy lavender bits in the cupcakes themselves making them much more palatable.

How Do I Make Lavender Milk?

Don’t get intimidated. You don’t need to be a Starbucks barista to make homemade lavender milk. All you need is your milk of choice and a few teaspoons of dried lavender.

First, in a small pot, combine both the milk and lavender and bring it to a boil over high heat. As soon as it starts to boil, take the pot off the heat and allow it to cool back to room temperature. The second step is once it has cooled, grab a strainer and strain out the lavender.

There you go! You’ve just made homemade lavender milk. See, I told you it was easy. This recipe will use a good portion of the lavender milk in both the cupcake batter and the buttercream but if there’s any leftover I highly recommend saving it for a delicious splash in tea or coffee. Perhaps even a lavender latte in the near future!

Small Batch Honey Lavender Cupcake Recipe

Sometimes you just need a cupcake. And by “a cupcake” I mean 2 or 3. But truly, that’s all you need. And math has never been my strong suit so trying to pair down a massive cupcake recipe into just a handful of cupcakes always leaves me feeling confused.

I’ve taken the guesswork out of this cupcake recipe and created it to be a small batch. You should end up with approximately 8 cupcakes. Just enough for you and maybe your family should you choose to share.

How Is Honey Used in Baking?

Honey is truly Mother’s Nature’s greatest sugar. I adore using it as a natural sweetener in baking and for the most part, it can generally be subbed in 1:1 in place of regular processed sugar. The tricky part is balancing the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients.

It took me two tries but I did find that delicate balance. Using all-purpose flour helped this recipe stay moist but sturdy enough to hold up to the extra moisture unlike my attempt with cake flour.

What’s Creamed Honey?

This recipe calls for creamed honey. I, along with my kids, love creamed honey. The silky-smooth spreadable texture and consistency is a baker’s delight, not to mention a spoon-licking dream. Creamed honey, unlike what the name might lead you to believe, contains no actual cream or dairy at all.

It is still 100% natural honey, the only difference to its liquid counterpart is that it has gone through a controlled crystallization process. This process creates small and uniform honey crystals which give it that oh so deliciously spreadable consistency and light color.

More Baking With Honey

I’m so excited for you to try these Honey Lavender Cupcakes. They are truly a gorgeously flavored floral cupcake perfect for spring parties and celebrations.

If you are a honey fan, you simply must try this Honey Blackberry Cake. Or perhaps a light, fluffy, and naturally honey-sweetened Lemon Poppy Seed Donut is more to your liking.