Cakes (makes 18-20 cakes):
120g Sugar
120g Softened butter
2 eggs
100g Self-raising flour
30g cocoa
50g dark chocolate chips
A little milk
Frosting
25ml milk
1 dessert spoon culinary lavender
30g butter
Icing Sugar (Confectioner's sugar)
Purple food colouring (or mix blue and red)
Lavender flowers to garnish.
- Overnight, infuse the milk for the frosting with lavender, then strain, discarding the lavender
- Pre-heat oven to 180C
- Cream together butter and sugar
- Beat in eggs
- Sift flour and cocoa and beat in.
- Add sufficient milk to bring to a soft dropping consistency<
- Stir through chocolate chips
- Put about 1 heaped teaspoon of the mix into cupcake papers and bake for 10-12 minutes or until firm and springy
- Meanwhile, make the frosting by beating butter and icing sugar together, with infused milk, until a piping consistency (soft, but not runny) is achieved. For best style, add a little food colouring to make the icing a blue-purple. Pipe a swirl of icing onto each cake and top with a head of lavender.
This recipe makes rich, sophisticated, grown-up cupcakes. The frosting is subtle and a bit of an acquired taste, but adds a quirky sense of chic to your table. Excellent with a cup of Earl Grey or English Breakfast tea.