Ingredients

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cups whole milk (can use plant based milk)
• 2 Earl Grey tea bags
• ¾ cup unsalted butter (softened to room temperature)
• 1 ¼ cups Purecane™ zero-calorie Baking Sweetener
• 2 eggs 
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
• 2 ½ cups cake flour 
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder 
• ½ teaspoon salt 
• 3 Earl Grey tea bags (opened, use the loose tea)

Lavender Buttercream Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups unsalted butter (softened to room temperature)
• 2 ½ cups Purecane™ Confectioners Sweetener
• 1 teaspoons culinary lavender 
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners. Line a second pan with 4-6 liners – this recipe makes about 16-18 cupcakes. Set aside.

Prepare Your Milk:

1. In a medium saucepan, combine milk and Earl Grey tea bags and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, remove from the heat, cover, and let sit for 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes are up, strain the Earl Grey-infused milk into a separate container and set aside. Discard the tea bags.

Make Your Cupcakes:

2. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or a large bowl with a handheld mixer), cream together the unsalted butter and Purecane™ zero-calorie Baking Sweetener until fluffy (about 5-7 minutes). Once fluffy, add in the eggs one at a time, scraping well after each addition. Next, add in the vanilla extract and scrape well to incorporate. 
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder, salt, and Earl Grey tea leaves (for the tea leaves, simply cut open the tea bags and use the leaves inside, discarding the outer bag). 
4. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the Earl Grey-infused milk into the creamed butter mixture in 3 additions, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined (be careful not to overmix)!
5. Spoon the batter into the prepared liners until they are about ⅔ of the way full.
6. Bake the cupcakes for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the Lavender Buttercream Frosting:

7. While the cupcakes are cooling, pulse together the culinary lavender in a food processor or spice grinder until it becomes a fine powder, then set it aside. 
8. With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy (about 2 minutes). Add 1 cup Purecane™ Confectioners Sweetener, heavy cream, culinary lavender, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 2 minutes. Add up to 1 ½ cups more Purecane™ Confectioners Sweetener a ½ cup at a time if frosting is too thin. Add another tablespoon of cream if the frosting is too thick, or add another pinch of salt if the frosting is too sweet. Optional to add 2-3 drops of purple food gel to add color.
9. Once the cupcakes are cool, decorate them with the lavender buttercream as desired and enjoy!

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