Lemon and Stinging Nettle Cupcakes with Lavender Icing
Lemon and Stinging Nettle Cupcakes with Lavender Icing: The flavour of the foraged nettles fades away beneath the zingy lemon, so you're left with a surprisingly bright green sponge that tastes light and zesty, complimented by the floral icing.
2cups(100g) packed raw young nettle leaves use the top 4-6 leaves
¾cup(200g) butterat room temperature
¾cup (150g) granulated sugar
3eggs
2teaspoonsvanilla extract
zest and juice of ½ lemon
2cups(250g) plain all-purpose flour
2teaspoonsbaking powder
½teaspoonsalt
For the Lavender Buttercream:
⅔cup(150g) butterat room temp
2 ½cups(300g) powdered icing sugar
2tablespoonmilk
2teaspoondried culinary lavenderground in a mortar and pestle
Instructions
Preheat oven to 170C/325F and line a muffin tin with liners.
Using rubber gloves, carefully wash the stinging nettle leaves and remove any stems. Place in a pan of boiling water and boil for 2-3 minutes. The sting will be removed with the boiling. Refresh by running under cold water, drain and puree well with a hand held stick blender. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in the nettles, vanilla, zest and lemon juice.
Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and stir to gently combine.
Spoon the mixture into the liners to fill ¾ full, then bake for 15 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the tins and move to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
For the icing, cream the butter in a large bowl until fluffy. Add in the icing sugar and ground lavender and beat. Beat in the milk, if necessary to make it a frosting consistency.