These chocolate cupcakes with lavender frosting are so rich and moist, you won’t believe they’re vegan!

I was skeptical about using lavender in desserts at first, but the frosting turned out oh so delicious!
To get the lavender color, I used natural pink pitaya and butterfly pea powder.

What I love the most about these cupcakes, is the rich and moist texture.

If you want to make them completely refined sugar-free, replace the powdered sugar of the frosting with erythritol or whip some coconut cream sweetened with maple syrup.
Chocolate lavender cupcakes
Vegan, refined sugar free (see notes), easy
Servings: 12
Ingredients
Ingredients for the lavender frosting
- 150 grams dairy free butter
- 200 grams powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp dairy free milk
- 1/4 tsp pink pitaya powder
- 1/4 tsp blue butterfly pea powder
- 2 Tbsp edible lavender buds
Ingredients for the chocolate cupcakes
- 175 grams spelt flour
- 50 grams cacao powder
- pinch salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 200 grams coconut sugar
- 20 ml espresso coffee
- 250 ml hot water
- 60 ml sunflower seeds oil
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
Instructions
Make the frosting
- In a small saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of vegan butter. Add 2 teaspoons of lavender buds and heat for a couple of minutes. Let cool down completely, remove the buds and place in the refrigerator to harden.
- Combine 1 tablespoon vegan milk with pink pitaya and butterfly pea powder.
- In a high speed blender, blend vegan butter, sugar, milk and the lavender flavored butter. Start on slow, then gradually increase the speed until the frosting is perfectly whipped.
Make the cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 180 C degrees and line a muffin tray with 12 cases.
- In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients.
- In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients.
- Pour the wet mixture over the dry ingredients and mix until just combined (don’t over mix).
- Divide the batter equally (I used an ice cream scooper) between the 12 muffin cases and bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Leave to cool before frosting.
Notes
To make completely refined sugar-free cupcakes, replace the powdered sugar of the frosting with superfine erythritol or whip some coconut cream with maple syrup.