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With Apologies to my Native City …

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No sooner had I posted a story about baking for Jasmine wherein I had complained that it is often very difficult to find specialized baking ingredients in Toronto, when a number of you contacted me to let me know several places where I could, in fact, buy lavender in Toronto.

There’s nothing quite so humbling as being totally wrong on the Internet! And yes, I was totally wrong.

As it turns out, there are a few places in Toronto where you can buy organic, edible lavender.

I’d like to thank the following people for pointing that out to me:

Lisa in Toronto left a comment for me pointing out that Grassroots Environmental Products has two stores in Toronto that sell natural products.

Angie of of angiemckaig.com pointed out that you can buy organic lavender at Noah’s Natural Foods.

Aliza sent me a note suggesting that I try The Spice Trader, one of my very favourite stores in Toronto. While I’d never thought to look there, I’ll certainly take any excuse to visit such a beautiful store. (And you should too if you come to Toronto!)

And last but not least, Rob of Hungry in Hogtown pointed out that there is a flower vendor in St. Lawrence Market who would likely sell organic lavender, and sure enough, Allegro Flowers does indeed sell organic lavender!

To thank them for pointing out how wrong I was, I decided to try these adorable lavender cupcakes from Susannah Blake’s new cookbook called … you guessed it … Cupcakes. I am a marketer’s dream and my purchase of this book proves it. Strategically place a lovely cookbook anywhere in a bookstore and you can bet my eyes will find out. I’d never even heard of Susannah Blake and yet as soon as I saw this book, I picked it up, looked at the cover and marched straight to the cashier.

I didn’t even flip through it.

Not that I had to, mind you. It’s lovely. One word of warning, the recipes use self-rising flour, which can be difficult to find. I’ve adapted the recipe to use regular flour.

Toronto, these cupcakes are for you!

Ciao!

Lavender Cupcakes
Adapted from Cupcakes by Susannah Blake.

Note: Self-rising flour is white flour that has already had leavening agents mixed in. You can easily make your own self-rising flour by adding 1-1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 a teaspoon of salt to every cup of flour you need for the recipe that you’re baking. This recipe yields 12 cupcakes.

For the cupcakes:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. dried lavender (flowers only, no stems)
8 tbsp. butter (1 stick), at room temperature
2 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. frated lemon zest

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners.

Place the sugar and lavender flowers in a food processor and process for about a minute. The sugar will appear slightly finer.

Place the lavender sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the butter and combine on low speed (with the paddle attachment) until just combined. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat the two together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the eggs and beat well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Sift the flour into the mixture and then add the milk, vanilla extract and lemon zest. Mix until just combined.

Spoon the batter into the paper liners and bake for 15 to 18 minutes. The cupcakes are done when a tester poked into the middle of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting them.

For the frosting:

1-1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 egg white
1 tsp. lemon juice
purple food colouring (optional)
lavender sprigs for garnish (optional)

Place the egg white and lemon juice in a bowl. Slowly add the icing sugar to the egg white, beating constantly (you can do this by hand). Once the icing sugar has been incorpoated and you have a thick frosting, you can think it out a bit if you wish by adding a bit of milk. If you want to give the frosting a bit of colour, add the tiniest pit of purple or violet food colouring.

Put about a tablespoonful of frosting on each cupcake. Spreak it slightly with a spoon. Gently place a sprig of lavender on each cupcake and serve.

Enjoy!

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26 Comments

Ann

07/28/07 at 8:53 am

Oh how I wish someone would correct me when I say how I wish I could find organic, edible lavender in Montego Bay, Jamaica! For then I could try out these lovely cupcakes. Alas…I doubt anyone will tell me that lavender is available in Mobay :(

Angie McKaig

07/28/07 at 9:11 am

Looks amazing as always, Ivonne! Glad we were able to help you find the tools you need to make your magic. :)

Nerissa

07/28/07 at 12:27 pm

wow! I’m drooling for these cupcakes. And it just so happens I have some organic lavendar biding its little time at home for just such a receipe. I hope it won’t mind twiddling its thumbs another month.

clarice

07/28/07 at 2:46 pm

I was just in Sequim (2 hours ago) picking raspberries and lavender. This recipe will be perfect. Thank you !!!! Clarice

Rosa

07/28/07 at 3:29 pm

Truely beautiful! Perfect!
Thanks for that great recipe! I’m going to make those cupcakes very soon…

Anita

07/28/07 at 3:58 pm

I love baking with lavender - so glad you could find a source! The cupcakes look lovely!

Kat

07/28/07 at 4:33 pm

beautiful cupcakes. I’m glad you could find some culinary lavender where you are :)

Tartelette

07/28/07 at 10:39 pm

I like being wrong where food sources are concerned because I love discovering about new places and new vendors. Lovely cupcakes!

brilynn

07/29/07 at 12:00 am

Ivonne, anytime you want lavender, just ask, my garden is overrun with it. I’ve been experimenting with it lately and will have a lavender post up shortly. Your cupcakes look gorgeous!

Karen

07/29/07 at 7:51 am

Lavender cupcakes are simply lovely!
I just harvested some lavender and now have another use for it.
Toronto seems like a great place for foodies - lucky you.

Lisa

07/29/07 at 10:44 am

Oh, those look so light and tender and tasty. Really beautiful. And I’m glad you found your lavender. :)

Farah

07/29/07 at 12:53 pm

I am really loving lavender right now — there is something so unique about the taste. Your cupcakes look beautiful… perfect for a grown-up tea party!

The Cooking Ninja

07/29/07 at 4:06 pm

Those cupcakes are truly gorgeous.

Ellie

07/29/07 at 7:05 pm

Oh Ivonne, these are beautiful! But they make me kinda sad as our extremely cold winter has completely killed my lavender bush :( I can’t wait for spring to roll around so I can plant a new one :)

joey

07/29/07 at 10:43 pm

I would love to taste your pretty little lavander cupcakes…they look lovely and I have never tasted baked goods with lavander ever! I can’t find fresh lavander where I live as well…hopefully if I post about it someone will correct me too and I will magically find them! :)

peabody

07/29/07 at 11:03 pm

Ha, ha. They sure showed you :)
Now you can make your cupcakes whenever you want!

Tarie

07/30/07 at 3:54 am

You must be an expert on food presentation… I have to say it again: the food featured on this site is always so PRETTY!

Lydia

07/30/07 at 5:23 am

So nice to have bloggers everywhere who can point you to great resources! I’ll hang on to their list for my next visit to Toronto.

Figs Olives Wine

07/30/07 at 9:01 am

Ivonne, I love it! Being wrong on the internet is about as public as it gets, but we’ve all been there. Thanks for the chuckle. Gorgeous cupcakes by the way. An instant craving set in as soon as I saw the photo.

ejm

07/31/07 at 1:41 pm

How cool is that, Ivonne?! I love that you got such a positive response. (Here I was trying to grow lavender just so I could harvest the flowers and dry them myself to put into a Provencal-style herb mixture!)

I don’t suppose you could ask your readers where in Toronto to get smoked paprika? (other than the Spice Trader and St.Lawrence Market… I’ve heard rumors that there is something on the north end of the city.)

-Elizabeth

Aimee

08/2/07 at 10:38 am

These are adorable and so elegant. Hmm, I have a wedding shower coming up soon, these would be lovely to eat.
Thanks Ivonne!

Lavender Cup Cakes « Lives Less Ordinary

08/24/07 at 1:44 am

[…] it to use! So, yesterday I was delighted to find on the blog Cream Puffs in Venice a recipe for Lavender Cup Cakes. While over in France this July, I tried some rose ice cream, and am now converted to the use of […]

cakebaker

08/24/07 at 6:20 am

These are just so gorgeous…the icing is so pretty:)

You’ve reminded me of a shortbread I used to make with lavender flowers in it…I must dig out the recipe.

  The anticipate day arrives… — kellementology

08/29/07 at 3:09 pm

[…] are just beyond talented, creative, persistent, and inquisitive.  They’re all […]

Sweet Lorraine Bakeshop Blog » » Baking Birthday Cupcakes (Mine!)

10/1/08 at 8:54 am

[…] introduce at The Bakeshop soon. The Lavender Cupcakes, which were tweaked a lot from the basic recipe over at Cream Puffs In Venice, are quite possibly my very favorite cupcakes ever. If you enjoy exotic floral flavors, […]

Serge Lescouarnec

11/29/09 at 11:36 am

Mentioned your creation in a piece on Lavender Cupcakes titled ‘Feeling Blue, Check these Lavender Cupcakes from Brussels’ on ‘Serge the Concierge’

Here is the link
http://www.sergetheconcierge.com/2009/11/feeling-blue-check-these-lavender-cupcakes-from-brussels.html

Serge
‘The French Guy from New Jersey’
Twitter: @theconcierge

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