Cupcake Conversations:
This is probably a common thought, but I just realized recently that "cupcakes" probably got their name by, you know, being cakes baked in cups. And then I wondered in what kind of cups they were baked, and decided probably teacups, because I love teacups. And then I looked up the history of the cupcake, and found that it actually was thusly dubbed because all the measurements were by cups, as you can read here. Pretty sure we're still talking about teacups, though. So while cupcakes may not have originally been conveniently cup-sized when they emerged in the 1800s, there still is a very strong link to tea when baking these little beauties.
Lavender Earl Grey Cupcakes (makes about 12)
1 c. coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
5 tsp loose leaf lavender earl grey tea
8 eggs
1 c. honey
6 TBL almond milk
4 tsp vanilla
To begin, warm almond milk and 1/3 c honey until honey is liquid.
Then, add 5 tsp tea, and leave to steep.
Do you like my "1 Cup of Perfect Tea" scoop?
Meanwhile, mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl and add the eggs.
Add honey-tea mixture, the rest of the honey, and vanilla, and pour into prepared cupcake papers!
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on cooling rack!
I found the cupcakes to be deliciously moist, and while there was a distinct tea flavor, the lavender was reduced to only a teensy-tiny hint. Had I known this ahead of time, I would have bought some lavender flavoring from a specialty store and used that in the frosting. As I had not, however, I flavored my dairy-free frosting with almond (a yums addition to lavender earl grey). No recipe for the topping, because it was rather hap-hazard. I used coconut oil, coconut cream, and powdered sugar. With a dash of lavender food coloring. ;)
Review:
These cupcakes were ab-so-lute-ly perfect in texture, so the coconut-egg combo is a keeper! My siblings all raved about them, with Zachary saying he loved them more than the chocolate ones I'd made and they were the "best cupcakes I've ever tasted!" For improvements, I would be interested to see if I could bring out the tea's flavor any stronger, in addition to, as I mentioned, flavoring the frosting with lavender. Besides that, I would just be sure to ground the tea leaves a bit more, as some of the longer leaves were annoying me in the finished product.
Have you ever made tea-flavored cupcakes?
Previous Cupcakery:
1 comment:
Almond...you truly are genius! Though I am bias towards all of the flavors you used, I would venture to say that it will be hard to top these! Can't wait to make them one of these days. :)
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