Perfectly pretty in purple, these blackberry lavender cupcakes are too lovely for words. These fluffy, lavender-scented cupcakes gets a naturally vibrant buttercream thanks to a blackberry compote!
Let’s talk lavender – it’s floral and fragrant but also delicious. Together with the tartness in blackberry, it’s truly a winning combo. Remember that old adage – if it grows together, it goes together!
If you’re looking for other lavender combos, you can try this lavender honey loaf cake or lavender Earl Grey ice cream. These all pair wonderfully with lavender so you have a subtle floral scent and not an overwhelming perfume.
Notable Ingredients
To make these lavender cupcakes, we are going to start with my favorite vanilla cupcake basic recipe and dress things up from there. For the icing, we will make a quick blackberry compote that will stir into a Swiss meringue buttercream – a silky, buttery and not-too-sweet icing that is just too good for words.
What do we need for each of these components? Some noteworthy ingredients are below!
Lavender Cupcakes
- Cake flour. This gives us a light and tender crumb to our cake.
- Unsalted butter and neutral oil. A neutral oil, i.e. an oil without flavor like canola or vegetable, makes for a soft and moist cupcake. In combination with the flavor of butter it is the best balance of texture and flavor.
- Dried lavender. Use a food-grade dried lavender. Some brands are made for fragrance purposes, but a quality food-grade lavender is best for flavor.
- Sour cream. Adding sour cream to the cake batter gives us a super soft texture.
- Baking soda & baking powder. A little bit of both gives us a sight dome on the top – my preference for a cupcake shape – not too round, not too flat.
Blackberry Buttercream
The base of this buttercream is my classic Swiss meringue buttercream and I give all the details and ingredients in that post. However, we will add a few ingredients to make it a blackberry version!
- Blackberries. Fresh or frozen blackberries will work here.
- Fresh lemon juice and zest. This makes our compote punchy in flavor, but also helps to set the texture a bit.
How to Make Perfectly Moist Cupcakes
Cupcakes can be notoriously on the dry side. They are so small, and have so much surface area hitting the oven, it doesn’t take much to over bake them. A few tips will give us these light and fluffy perfect lavender cupcakes – so light you’ll be surprised they can hold up the buttercream!
Crush the lavender. Start by sifting or whisking your dry ingredients together to eliminate any clumps. Next, give the dried lavender petals a quick crush in your palm to release the fragrance.
Whip the butter and sugar. Don’t skimp on really whipping the butter and sugar until it’s light and fluffy. Keep scraping the bowl as you go too so all the butter and sugar is whipped well for about 5 minutes.
Alternate adding the wet and dry ingredients. One trick to avoid over-mixing is to alternate between adding your flour mixture and milk. Add in 1/3 of the flour on low, then 1/2 of the milk and keep going until everything is nearly blended before switching to a spatula and stirring in the last streaks by hand.
Don’t overfill. Only fill the cupcake tins about 2/3 full. It’s about one even ice cream scoop. Overfill and the cupcakes can either spread into one another or they will deflate in the pans.
Watch the bake. Keep an eye on the cupcakes, but don’t open the oven door too often. The edges should be just turning a light golden brown and will spring back when touched.
Making Blackberry Buttercream
I go through the full process of making Swiss meringue buttercream in my post provided here. It’s a bit more work than a standard butter and powdered sugar buttercream, but one bite of this silky buttercream and you will never turn back.
Before we can make our blackberry variety, we need to make a quick blackberry compote. This will reduce the liquid in the fruit – concentrating the flavor and reducing the chance for a sloppy icing.
Quickly boiling mashed blackberries with a small amount of sugar and lemon gives us a great mix-in for the buttercream!
Finishing the Cupcakes
I used both a 2D piping tip and an 824 piping tip for these cupcakes. Making some more ruffled than others. Of course, just spooning the icing is also an option, with how pretty the color is, they will look great no matter what!
I topped them with a fresh blackberry – no fancy techniques needed!
Frequently Asked Questions
I recommend using a dried, food-grade lavender for this recipe.
The most likely culprits are over-mixing or over-filling the liners. No worries though, they will still taste great and no one can tell once the icing is on top!
I prefer to leave the seeds in the compote, it makes for a subtle texture, but if you prefer the buttercream to be completely smooth, you can run it through a sieve before adding to the buttercream.
I used a 2D and 824 piping tip. The 2D resulted in a more ruffled look, but the blackberry seeds tend to catch in the small nozzle.
Blackberry Lavender Cupcakes
Equipment
- 2 standard cupcake tins
Ingredients
Lavender Cupcakes
- 240 g cake flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ tablespoons dried lavender*
- 113 g unsalted butter room temperature
- 248 g granulated sugar
- ¼ cup canola or vegetable oil
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup whole milk room temperature
- 113 g sour cream room temperature
Blackberry Buttercream
- 340 g blackberries fresh or frozen
- Zest & juice 1 lemon
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 recipe Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Instructions
- Lavender cupcakes. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line 2 cupcake tins with liners or spray/grease tins. Recipes makes approximately 18 cupcakes.
- Sift or whisk together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Crush lavender slightly in hands and stir into flour.240 g cake flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 1/2 tablespoons dried lavender*
- In the bowl of a stand-mixer fitted with paddle, or with hand mixer in a large bowl, whip together butter and sugar on high until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Whip in oil just until incorporated.113 g unsalted butter, 248 g granulated sugar, 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
- With mixer on low, add eggs one at a time, letting each one mix in fully before adding the next. Add in vanilla.3 eggs room temperature, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Alternate adding the flour mixture and milk on low with the following process: Stir in 1/3 of the flour mixture. Once a few streaks remain, pour in 1/2 of the milk. Continue until all additions are just incorporated with a few streaks remaining. Switch to a rubber spatula and stir in sour cream and any remaining streaks of flour by hand. Batter will be thick.1/2 cup whole milk, 113 g sour cream
- Distribute batter to prepared cupcake tins, filling each liner or cavity 2/3 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes until lightly golden brown on the edges and cupcakes spring back when touched. When cool enough to touch, remove cupcakes from pan and allow to cool completely on wire rack before icing.
- Blackberry buttercream. Make a blackberry compote by combining blackberries, lemon zest and juice and sugar in a small saucepan. Lightly mash the blackberries. Cook on medium heat until mixture is very thick, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely.340 g blackberries, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, Zest & juice 1 lemon
- Add 1/4 cup (100g) of the cool blackberry compote into prepared Swiss meringue buttercream. Ice cooled cupcakes as desired.1 recipe Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Notes
- Use a food-grade dried lavender. Amount can be reduced if you prefer a more subtle lavender flavor.
- Store leftover cupcakes in air tight container in fridge for up to 3 days. Allow buttercream to return to room temperature for 20 minutes before serving.
- Cupcakes can be stored un-iced in freezer for up to 1 month in freezer-safe container.
Disclaimer: We test all recipes using the metric weights shown, we cannot guarantee outcomes when switching to US measurements.
