For light and sweet desserts, you will love the floral flavor of this smooth and creamy Lavender Buttercream Frosting. The delicate taste from using dried lavender buds blends beautifully into this creamy frosting for cupcakes, macarons, and more.
Lavender buttercream is like spring time on a spoon. It is smooth and sweet with hints of lavender. I am always tempted to make it lavender in color as well, but that is up to you.
When working with dried culinary lavender, you have to get the balance of flavors just right. Too much, and whatever you are cooking will taste like soap. Here, we blend the delicate dried lavender with sugar for a sweet and subtle floral taste.
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I made this lavender frosting to go on my Lavender Cake but it goes with so many different desserts. You'll especially love it paired with zesty lemon cake or anything with berries (blueberry, blackberry, and strawberries all go so well with lavender).
You can spread and swirl lavender buttercream frosting on vanilla or even brown butter cupcakes, but the light and flowery frosting would even taste amazing on chocolate cake.
Try it as a macaron filling in my favorite vanilla French macarons!
How to Get Lavender Flavor
Often times we infuse or steep flavorings like herbs or spices by heating with a liquid. This usually looks like steeping cinnamon in the milk used for a cake or melting butter with tea before adding to a cookie recipe.
There isn't much liquid in buttercream. So instead of heating the lavender with the butter or milk and straining it out, we are using the dried flower buds in the recipe. This will add tons of flavor and cut back on time.
Grind the dried lavender buds before adding it into the buttercream. With a mini food processor, grind with the powdered sugar until fine. You can also use a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.
If large pieces of lavender are left, sift them out using a fine mesh sieve and discard. Remember less is more! Lavender can be very strong in flavor.
Ingredients in Lavender Buttercream Recipe
- Unsalted butter - softened to room temperature
- Confectioners' sugar/icing sugar/powdered sugar
- Milk or heavy cream
- Vanilla extract
- Dried culinary lavender - look for this in the spice sections of large or specialty grocery stores
- Lavender or purple gel food coloring - optional
Softened butter should be able to easily hold a fingerprint when lightly pressed. It should not feel greasy or be melted.
Tools and Equipment
- Electric mixer - a hand or stand mixer will both work
- Mini food processor, spice grinder, or mortar and pestle
- Mesh sieve - for sifting out larger lavender pieces
How to Make Lavender Buttercream Frosting
- Grind the lavender - using a mini food processor along with 1 cup of the powdered sugar until it becomes small, fine pieces. Sift out any large pieces of flower, if desired
- Mix the butter - use the paddle attachment on a stand mixer to smooth out the softened butter first.
- Add the powdered sugar, lavender, milk, vanilla - mix on low speed until everything combines
- Let it whip! - Increase the speed to medium and whip until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Color it! - Add lavender or purple gel food coloring, if desired
- Smooth it out - stir the whipped buttercream with a wooden spoon or stiff spatula before icing cakes (optional)
Getting the Right Color
In my 20 years of cake making, I've found that most food coloring that is labeled lavender or violet, and often purple too, tend to lean more blue than pink.
Depending on the shade of lavender you want, you may need to add pink or a little bit of red.
I recommend gel food coloring. It is very concentrated, so you will only need to use a little bit to get a pretty pale purple color. I used a mixture of Americolor electric purple and fuchsia.
Bake Like a Pro
After the first stage of mixing, the buttercream will look like dense frosting. Keep mixing to incorporate more air to make it fluffy and light (in color and texture). As seen in the following two images - the first is smooth but still too thick; the second is light and fluffy.
If using to smoothly ice a cake, stir vigorously with a stiff spatula or wooden spoon to knock out any air bubbles. You want to whip the frosting for lightness, but do this extra step to make sure it glides on smoothly over the cake.
Storage
Lavender buttercream frosting is best used just after making while it is still soft. If making in advance, store it at room temperature for up to 1 day. Rewhip or mix by hand until light and smooth.
Frosting may be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Allow it to come to room temperature before remixing.
You may also freeze the frosting for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
Lavender Buttercream Recipe FAQs
Lavender buttercream frosting has a sweet, delicate floral taste. It can be overpowering so make sure to use lavender in moderation or else it will taste like perfume.
Use dried culinary lavender for baking and cooking with lavender. Not all lavender is safe to eat, so instead of picking buds from your garden, use lavender labeled for culinary use only.
Before you start adding too much powdered sugar, try putting soft buttercream in the refrigerator. The butter might have been too warm and chilling in the refrigerator may help it firm up.
Make sure to sift powdered sugar to remove any lumps before mixing. Allow enough time for the butter and sugar to whip together to help the sugar dissolve into the buttercream frosting.
Recipe
Lavender Buttercream
Equipment
- Mini food processor, spice grinder, or mortar and pestle
Ingredients
- 1 to 1 ½ teaspoon dried culinary lavender buds
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 to 3 tablespoon milk or cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- gel food coloring optional
Instructions
- Grind the lavender with 1 cup powdered sugar in a mini food processor. Sift out any large pieces of dried lavender using a mesh sieve, if desired
- Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer, mix the butter until soft and creamy.
- Add the lavender sugar along with the remaining powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk and vanilla. Mix on low speed until combined.
- Once the sugar mixes in and won't fly out everywhere, turn the mixer speed up to medium-high speed. Mix until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add more milk as needed.
- If you want to make it lavender in color, add small amounts of gel food coloring until desired color is achieved.
Winnie L.
All your frostings are so good! I like this one especially because it really have that lavender flavor but not too soapy.