Chamomile and Lavender Cupcakes

These were made for t leaf T‘s August 2009 tea parties, along with Peppermint Vanilla Swirls. I was inspired by the Chamomile and Lavender herbal tisane, so used a basic cupcake recipe but infused chamomile into the cake and lavender into the icing. I was worried the lavender would be too overpowering (it scented my kitchen for a few days), but I managed to get the perfect balance of both flavours.

If you are using teabag chamomile I would put a lot more in, as the flavour doesn’t tend to be as strong. But what are you doing using teabags anyway?

Cake Ingredients 225 grams butter 4 tablespoons Chamomile herbal tisane 2 cups sugar 4 eggs 3 cups self-rising flour 1 cup milk

Icing Ingredients 1/3 cup whole milk 2 teaspoons Lavender herbal tisane 3 cups icing sugar Food colouring

Method
Makes 24 medium sized cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 180C. Melt the butter and add the chamomile. Infuse for 15 minutes, then strain the flowers out. Combine the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating each egg very well so that it is thoroughly combined before adding the next egg. Beat in half of the flour, add the milk and the remaining flour, stirring until just combined. Fill the cupcake pans 2/3 full and bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through to ensure even baking.

For the icing, bring milk and lavender just to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat an allow to steep for 10 minutes. Strain and discard lavender. Beat in icing sugar. Add food colouring until desired colour is reached. Spread immediately over cooled cupcakes.

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