Earl Grey Lavender Cupcakes

These dairy free earl grey lavender cupcakes are perfectly soft vanilla cupcakes infused with the subtle flavour of bergamot and citrus thanks to the earl grey tea, topped with a fresh and floral lavender buttercream. These pretty cupcakes are sure to impress for your next special occasion.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Australian

Prep Time 40

Cook Time 20

Total Time 1

Servings cupcakes

Calories 381kcal

Author Sally

Equipment

Ingredients

For the earl grey cupcakes:

½ cup almond milk or any dairy free milk
2 earl grey teabags
170 grams dairy-free butter
¾ cup white sugar/granulated sugar
2 eggs room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups plain flour/all purpose flour
2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

For the lavender buttercream:

1 tablespoon dried culinary lavender
2 tablespoons almond milk or any dairy free milk
125 grams dairy-free butter
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
3-4 cups icing sugar
pinch salt to taste
gel food colouring optional

Instructions

For the earl grey cupcakes:

Heat the almond milk in the microwave for 1 minute or until warm. Place teabags in the milk to infuse for 30 minutes or until milk has cooled to room temperature. Squeeze any milk from the tea bags before discarding.
Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F and line a 12 cup muffin pan with cupcakes liners, and another with 1 as this recipe yields 13 cakes.
With an electric mixer, beat the dairy-free butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla and continue beating until light and creamy.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add half the flour mixture to the wet ingredients followed by half of the tea infused milk and mix through. Add the remaining dry ingredients and milk and mix until the batter is light and creamy.
Using a cookie scoop or a tablespoon, add the batter into the prepared cupcake pan, making sure they are ¾ full and bake for 20-22 minutes or until golden on top and the cake spring backs when lightly touched.
Allow the cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

For the lavender buttercream:

Mix the culinary lavender with the dairy free milk and leave to infuse in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight. Strain before using and discard the lavender, keeping the infused milk.
Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment fitted, beat dairy-free butter and vanilla for 1-2 minutes until creamy.
Add in 2 cups of icing sugar and beat on medium until combined. Add in an additional cup of icing sugar and continue to mix. As mixture thickens, add in the infused dairy free milk a little at a time until you reach a thick, creamy consistency. If the frosting is too thin or tastes too 'buttery', add in an extra ½-1 cup of icing sugar, and if it’s too thick, add a little bit more dairy free milk. Finally add a pinch of salt to taste and a few drops of food colouring and continue to mix until super creamy.
Spoon the frosting into a piping bag with you're favourite piping tip (I am using the Wilton 1M) and pipe swirls onto cooled cupcakes.

Notes

In the original version of this recipe, I used Lady Grey tea which was created and trademarked by Twinings and has a softer, more subtle flavour than traditional Earl Grey. Since then, I have found it more difficult to find therefore I now simply use Earl Grey which is equally as delicious.

Food Colouring: For the best results, use a gel based food colouring such as Americolor. To create the lavender colour I used a few drops of violet with a little bit of deep pink.

Nutrition