Lavender Lemon Cupcakes: Working with Floral Flavors.

This week I made lavender lemon cupcakes. I was apprehensive they would not turn out, or my friends weren't going to like it because it's too weird. But man, was I wrong... Let's rewind. My friends invited my family over to have dinner, so they asked me to make dessert and for a lot of people because more of my friends were coming later. They are all members of the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints, Which are known for having big families, so it was a lot of people. My mom wanted me not to make 50 cupcakes and tried to talk me into cookies, but I insisted. Also, one of my mom's friends generously gave me her old cake icing kit, with a lot of exciting equipment, so I wanted to work on my icing skills.

For my cupcakes, I like to whip the butter and sugar for my cupcakes until it's fluffy and then add my eggs and whip to maximum fluffiness. It's very gratifying. Than rather using extract, I like to add lemon zest and juice for lemon cupcakes because lemon juice adds acid, and lemon zest adds the lemon taste. After the cupcakes come out of the oven for extra acid, you can brush extra lemon juice on top.

Thankfully I had worked with lavender flavors before when I made a blackberry lavender cake last year. In that cake, they used culinary lavender and infused it in milk which I brushed in between each layer. I thought that was an amazing tactic. It's also easier not to overdo the flavor with the actual flower. But we used extract for the icing and added a little bit at a time because, floral flavors can be challenging because it's easy to add too much, and it tastes like perfume.

Thankfully, my friends loved it. To be clear, they are awesome, and I love them. They just don't always like more unusual flavors, and I'm glad they tried it and enjoyed it. Rachel ate 5, Mr. Brad, who didn't really like cupcakes, tried one and loved it, and Grayson said it tastes like eating flowers. It was enjoyable and truly showed how food brings people together, and we had a great time!