Honey Lavender Cupcakes
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 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 needn’t 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.
Other Ways To Use Lavender Milk
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 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. 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 are 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 gorgeously flavored floral cupcakes 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. I also have a delicious Honey Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.

Honey Lavender Cupcakes
- Total Time: 60 Minues
- Yield: 8 Cupcakes 1x
- Diet: Low Lactose
Description
A small-batch recipe for fluffy and light honey lavender cupcakes. Naturally sweetened with creamed honey, these floral cupcakes topped with whipped honey lavender frosting make the perfect spring treat!
Ingredients
Lavender Milk
- ½ cup dairy-free cup milk
- 2 teaspoon dried lavender
Honey Lavender Cupcakes
- ¼ cup dairy-free salted butter, room temperature
- ⅔ cup creamed honey
- 1 egg white, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup dairy-free yogurt, room temperature
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour *can sub gluten-free 1:1 baking blend
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ cup lavender milk
Honey Lavender Buttercream
- ½ cup dairy-free salted butter, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons creamed honey
- 1½ cups icing sugar
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 tablespoons lavender milk
- Purple food coloring *optional
Instructions
Lavender Milk
- In a small pot combine the milk and dried lavender and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Remove from the heat as soon as it starts to boil and allow the milk to cool to room temperature.
- Strain the lavender from the milk and discard the lavender. Set the lavender milk aside.
Honey Lavender Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place 8 cupcake liners in a cupcake pan.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, combine the butter and creamed honey and beat together on high until light and fluffy (approximately 5 minutes.)
- Add in the egg white, vanilla extract, and yogurt and mix on high for 1 minute.
- Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt and begin to mix on low.
- With the mixer on low, slowly pour in the lavender milk and mix until just combined. Be careful to not overmix the batter or it will cause the cupcakes to be gummy in texture.
- Fill each cupcake liner approximately ¾ full with the cupcake batter and bake for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow them to cool for 10 minutes. Gently remove each cupcake from the pan and place them on a cooling rack to fully cool.
Honey Lavender Buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment cream the butter and honey together on high for 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Add in the icing sugar and salt and mix on low until combined.
- Add in the lavender milk (and purple food color if using) and mix on low until combined.
- Turn the mixer to high and allow to beat for 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Top the cupcakes with the frosting and enjoy. I used a Wilton 1M piping tip.
- Store leftover cupcakes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 7 days.
- Prep Time: 45 Minutes
- Cook Time: 15 Minutes
- Category: Cakes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cupcake
- Calories: 407
- Sugar: 50 grams
- Sodium: 334 Miligrams
- Fat: 18 grams
- Saturated Fat: 9 Grams
- Unsaturated Fat: 8 Grams
- Trans Fat: 1 Gram
- Carbohydrates: 60 Grams
- Fiber: 0 Grams
- Protein: 2 Grams
- Cholesterol: 31 Miligrams
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We loved the Lavender Honey cupcakes. We subbed in WTFlour gluten free flour blend and they were delicious. We will be making again ?
★★★★★
Thank you so much for baking these up Danielle! And so good to know that it will work GF as well!
Hi Katie,
Do you have to use dairy free milk and butter?
Thanks!
No, you can totally use regular milk and butter!
I loved these cupcakes! I am so happy with the lavender taste, it’s just perfect with the honey!
★★★★★
I am thrilled to hear that Vanessa. It’s such a yummy delicate flavor combo, isn’t it?!
What can i do if y dont hace that honey? Can i replace it with something else?
Any creamed honey will do!
These were so yummy! They screamed summer to us and in April in Northern Michigan, we are ready for summer! ? We dumped in the rest of the lavender milk without measuring it and perhaps it was too much??? The frosting definitely had a lot of flavor and didn’t need a ton on each cupcake. We will definitely be making these again! Thank you! ?
★★★★★
It definitely screams summer to me too! Thanks for giving them a go! Next time use only 2 tbsp of the lavender milk in the frosting and you’ll find the flavor far more balanced and not as runny texture-wise.
Does the recipe work with dairy products too?
It absolutely does!
What type of creamed honey do you use? I followed the exact recipe twice and both times the cupcakes never really cooked thoroughly and sort of sabk when taken out of the oven. I can only assume that it must be the type of honey i used? Even though it was ‘creamed’, it seemed to keep the cupcakes from really baking as they should
Oh gosh Katherin, that’s so frustrating! I used BeeMaid pure creamed honey. It has a thick sticky almost peanut butter-like consistency. Cakes and cupcakes can sink due to a handful of reasons but my first two thoughts are 1) they are under-baked or 2) the cupcake liners were filled too much. I hope these suggestions/hints help. You can always shoot me off an email too and I can really dig into problem-solving with you there.
What an amazing flavour combination! The honey and lavender gives these cupcakes almost a hint of lemony taste. My cupcake tin must be small as I got 10 cupcakes from the recipe.
These were a perfect treat to bake up for Mother’s Day. Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
I am thrilled you made these Shannon. Thanks for the feedback and giving this recipe a shot!
These turned out amazing for my sister’s baby shower. She loves lavender.
★★★★★
It’s such a fun flavor when done well. And congratulations to your sister.
I’ve made these three times for three different celebrations and a hit every signle time.
Thank you so much for taking the time to bake these cupcakes up Alyona! I adore a good lavender treat!
I’m excited to make these. But I’m wondering…. In the ingredients list for the buttercream it calls for shortening but the instructions don’t mention the use of shortening. Is there supposed to vegetable shortening in this recipe?
Great catch Rachel. Thanks for letting me know. It gets creamed together with the butter and honey.
I made these a little while ago and got another request for them! Easy to make and the lavender milk is amazing.
★★★★★
Yay! That thrills me to hear Kristy. Thank you for sharing.
I made these gluten-free this weekend and they turned out amazing!
★★★★★
I am thrilled to hear they worked great as gluten-free. Thank you for sharing Yanne.
Hi Kathy,
I was wondering how this recipe can be used with regular honey. Is there another ingredient I need to modify in order to use regular honey? Thank you so much 🙂
Hi Kathy, great question! I have not tried this recipe with regular honey so I cannot guarantee results. I would swap out the creamed honey for regular honey as is in the cupcake and maybe just 1 tbsp of honey in the buttercream to start with. Good luck!
Hi Katie,
I’m planning to make your cupcakes this weekend for a small gathering and was wondering if you could use all butter in the frosting instead of shortening? I’m not a huge fan of shortening in frostings.
Yes, you can totally use all butter! It may be a tad softer so, if needed, chill the frosting a few minutes before piping to get that mile-high swirl.
Thank you! Appreciate the quick response!
Wondering if this can be baked as a cake rather than cupcakes?
In theory, yes! I have not personally tried it though.
Hey! I’m excited to make these, but I was wondering if I could use lavender extract in this recipe and how I’d go about it, thank you in advance!
Hmmm great question. I haven’t tried lavender extract so I wouldn’t know how much to use but yes, I do think it would work.
Hi Katie, I’m really excited to try this recipe. What food coloring did you use for the buttercream? I am looking to get the exact shade that you made.
I used ChefMaster gel color in violet.
I made these today and the cupcakes were SO good! The only thing is my frosting was a bit too sweet and a little bit runny – i followed the directions exactly. Is there anyway to make it less sweet but still pipeable?
You could further reduce the lavender milk or simply add less of it to the frosting.
Please help I’m not sure what happened I did the first step of combining the butter and creamed honey but as soon as I added the egg white and the vanilla it started to curdle. All my ingredients were at room temp
It has not curdled, the fat has separated. Just keep mixing and following the recipe. It will come together when you add the dry ingredients.
These are my new favorite cupcake ever! They are amazing and you would never know they were dairy free! Delicious! Will make over and over again!
★★★★★
Who knew honey and lavender would be so good together, right?!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Good for a few days in an airtight container or frozen up to 6 months.
Thank So much for this recipe. It was very delicious. It’s just me and my man, so it was just enough better. The batter was very moist. I will keep the cake recipe in next time change out the lavender in the cupcakes for 1 teaspoon of lemon zest. With the lavender icing.
★★★★★
Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed them. Can’t wait to hear how the lemon turns out.
Game changer! For all of us friends with allergies these are life changing! Amazing sweetness with flavor and everything a cupcake should be. Perfect for any and all occasions…or just to keep in the freezer and eat all week! So grateful for this recipe!
★★★★★
Aw, thank you, Monica. I like your style. A mid-week freezer treat is the best!
Wondering how this would taste omitting the lavender with roses.
★★★★★
As in dried rose petals?
Could these be made as chocolate cupcakes with the lavender and honey?
Hmmm good question. I’d be more apt to say make my chocolate cake into cupcakes and sub in the lavender milk and honey to that recipe.