Baking is my first love. I grew up in a home where I was encouraged to experiment in the kitchen as long as I cleaned up my mess. As I got older, baking helped me get out of my head and focus on a task for a few hours. I could be creative and explore flavors, textures, and ideas.
For a long time, the idea of decorating cakes and cupcakes intimidated me, and I refused to do it until a few years ago. Now, it is my favorite stress relief. I love mixing buttercream colors and using cupcakes as my medium. Who doesn’t love creating something that you can eat afterward?
Everyone is a beginner at some point, so don’t be afraid to mess up. Learn as you go, and have fun! This cupcake recipe can easily be adapted to fit just about any flavor profile by replacing the syrup and removing the lemon and lavender buds. You can use any Pink House Alchemy syrup in buttercream as an exact replacement. Play and create your own unique flavors.
Lemon Lavender Cupcakes (enough for 12 cupcakes)
½ cup butter, softened
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 TBSP pH Lavender Syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lemon, zest, and juice
1 TBSP culinary-grade lavender buds
2 eggs plus 1 egg white, room temp
½ TBSP Baking Powder
½ tsp salt
2 cups cake flour
½ cup buttermilk, room temp
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line a muffin tin.
In a mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar, lavender buds, lemon zest and juice until it is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes
Scrape the bowls' side and add eggs, vanilla extract, and pH Lavender Syrup. Mix until the egg yolks are fully incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl again. (Pro Tip: make sure you are scraping the base of the bowl if you are using a stand mixer)
In a separate bowl, sift together the baking powder, salt, and cake flour.
With the mixer on a low speed, add ½ of the dry ingredients and ½ the buttermilk. Repeat this step another time until all the dry ingredients and buttermilk are fully incorporated into the butter mixture. Be careful not to overmix at this point.
Scrape the sides of the bowl again and use a ¼ cup measuring cup to spoon out the cupcakes.
Bake for 18 - 22 minutes, the tops of the cupcakes should be golden brown and fully cooked.
Let cupcakes cool for at least 45 minutes before decorating.
Vanilla Buttercream
½ cup butter, softened
3 ½ cups powdered sugar
½ tsp kosher salt
2 TBSP pink House Vanilla Bean Syrup
2 TBSP milk
With a stand mixer, cream the butter for 5 minutes until it is light and fluffy
Scrape the sides of the bowls, add in powdered sugar, salt, vanilla bean syrup, and milk.
Mix everything on a medium-high speed until the buttercream is fluffy, about 8 minutes.
Scrape the bowl again and divide the buttercream into bowls. Dye buttercream with your desired colors and decorate.
Decorate cooled cupcakes
by Hannah Davis, Pink House Alchemy Culinary Director
Our vanilla bean syrup is a labor of love. We bring in barrels of raw vanilla beans sourced from Madagascar and use every piece of every bean. We split them, scrape the insides, chop the outsides, and use a double filter process to create an added richness. All the fuss is worth it: we’ve found that there is some kind of magic in the agitation of the skin, bean by bean. Try it—we think you’ll agree! If you see little black specks in the bottle, those are little pieces of vanilla bean that we keep for flavor! Some batches will have more than others and they’re delicious.
Ingredients: organic cane sugar, water, vanilla beans, vanilla extract, lactic acid
Our lavender syrup bursts with spice, and citrus and mint aromas. Walking into the Pink House production during lavender season, you are knocked over with the sweet smells. On those days we are calm and happy and the essence of the peaceful herb circulating in the air does its job.
Ingredients: organic cane sugar, water, lavender flowers, lactic acid
Hannah Davis is the culinary director for Pink House Alchemy, and you will always find your way to her for that mid-day snack. Her passion for food as a creative outlet started in 2004 when she read Southern’s Living Thanksgiving Issue for the first time and convinced her mom to let her cook every item out of that issue for Thanksgiving dinner. With roots in the South and Hawaii, she is constantly surrounded by strong food ties that connect culture, land, and people. Outside work, you will find her reading the latest cookbook, exploring National Parks with her husband, and hosting dinner groups.