These high altitude blackberry lavender cupcakes are soft, moist and fluffy, made with fresh blackberries, flavored with lemon zest and edible dried lavender, and frosted with blackberry lavender buttercream. Decorated with buttercream swirls, rosettes and hydrangea flowers, these blackberry cupcakes make a lovely and delicious dessert for Easter, Mother’s Day, or any spring celebration.
You might also love this blackberry cornbread cake, blackberry layer cake, and no bake blackberry cheesecake.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Fresh Spring Flavors. With all the fresh, fruity and floral notes of blackberry, lemon and lavender, these blackberry cupcakes make a delicious dessert for a special spring celebration or holiday.
Easy to Decorate. With just one piping tip, you can easily decorate your cupcakes in a variety of ways and floral designs, such as rosette cupcakes and hydrangea cupcakes. Learn all about how to decorate cupcakes in this tutorial.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- Butter. Gives the cake moisture and flavor.
- Sugar. Granulated sugar adds sweetness and moisture.
- Lemon Zest. Use fresh lemon zest to complement the flavors of blackberry and lavender.
- Egg Whites. You’ll only need egg whites for this recipe, so save the yolks for another use. Egg whites give the cake strength, structure and moisture.
- Flour. Use cake flour, not all purpose flour, for a lighter, softer texture.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness and enhances flavors.
- Baking Powder. Leavening agent.
- Lavender. You’ll need dried, edible/culinary lavender to flavor both the cupcakes and the buttercream.
- Whole Milk + Sour Cream. Adds fat, richness and moisture for a tender cupcake.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Blackberries. Use fresh, not frozen blackberries. Also, be sure to cut them into 1/4 inch pieces, as whole blackberries are far too big for cupcakes, and will just sink to the bottom of the batter, while small pieces will stay suspended throughout the cake.
Buttercream
- Butter. I use unsalted butter for buttercream, and usually add a pinch of salt, but you can use salted if you prefer.
- Blackberry Preserves. Use a good quality blackberry preserves to flavor the buttercream and add a natural pinkish-lavender color. If it contains seeds, there’s no need to strain them out, unless you really want to.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the buttercream.
- Meringue Powder. This ingredient is optional, but it adds stability and improves the texture.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Dried Edible Lavender.
- Fresh Blackberries. For decorating.
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line two standard sized muffin pans with 18 paper cupcake liners.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest for about 5 minutes on medium speed, scraping the bowl down occasionally, until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg whites, and beat for 1 minute, until well combined.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking powder, then whisk in the lavender until everything is evenly distributed.
- In a separate bowl or glass measuring cup, whisk together the milk, sour cream and vanilla extract.
- With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk mixture, starting and ending with the flour. Increase the speed to medium, and mix for 15 seconds.
- Gently fold in the chopped blackberries with a spatula.
- Divide the batter between the paper liners. Bake the cupcakes for about 18-22 minutes, until the tops spring back when gently touched, or a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pan for several minutes, then gently transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed for 1 minute, until smooth. Add the blackberry jam and the vanilla, and beat for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar by spoonfuls, the meringue powder, salt and lavender.
- Increase the speed to medium, and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl several times, until very light and fluffy. Turn the speed down to “stir” and mix for 1 more minute.
- Fit a piping bag with tip 1M, and fill half full of buttercream. Pipe the buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes in swirls, rosettes and hydrangea flowers. See this post on How to Decorate Cupcakes 6 Ways with Tip 1M.
- Decorate with blackberries, dried lavender, nonpareils and sparkling sugar.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.
Frequently Asked Questions
Store leftover cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day, or in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Yes, the lavender in the cupcakes and the buttercream is optional.
You can check your local spice shop for dried edible or culinary lavender, or buy it online.
You can use edible lavender to make tea, or to add a lovely floral note to baked goods. Just be careful not to use too much, or it can add a soapy flavor. I have a few recipes using lavender, including lavender honey chocolate chip ice cream, lavender lemonade honey popsicles, lavender lemon cake, and iced lemon lavender shortbread cookies.
You can grind the lavender into a powder in a spice grinder or using a mortar and pestle.
You Might Also Like
Please check out my Amazon Shop for a curated collection of some of my favorite cake pans from trusted brands, baking tools, ingredients, pretty things and fashion finds. I recommend products that I buy and use every day!
Did you love today’s recipe? Please rate the recipe and let me know in the comments what you thought! Also, be sure to follow Curly Girl Kitchen on Instagram, and tag me when you try one of my recipes so I can see all your delicious creations!
High Altitude Blackberry Lavender Cupcakes
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon zest
- 3 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 ¾ cups cake flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp dried edible lavender, finely ground
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ cup full fat sour cream
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup fresh blackberries, cut into 1/4 inch chunks
Buttercream
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ¼ cup blackberry preserves
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp meringue powder
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp dried edible lavender, finely ground
- fresh blackberries, for decorating
- sparkling sugar and nonpareils
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line two standard sized muffin pans with 18 paper cupcake liners.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest for about 5 minutes on medium speed, scraping the bowl down occasionally, until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg whites, and beat for 1 minute, until well combined.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking powder, then whisk in the lavender until everything is evenly distributed.
- In a separate bowl or glass measuring cup, whisk together the milk, sour cream and vanilla extract.
- With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk mixture, starting and ending with the flour. Increase the speed to medium, and mix for 15 seconds.
- Gently fold in the chopped blackberries with a spatula.
- Divide the batter between the paper liners. Bake the cupcakes for about 18-22 minutes, until the tops spring back when gently touched, or a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pan for several minutes, then gently transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed for 1 minute, until smooth. Add the blackberry jam and the vanilla, and beat for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar by spoonfuls, the meringue powder, salt and lavender.
- Increase the speed to medium, and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl several times, until very light and fluffy. Turn the speed down to "stir" and mix for 1 more minute.
- Fit a piping bag with tip 1M, and fill half full of buttercream. Pipe the buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes in swirls, rosettes and hydrangea flowers. See this post on How to Decorate Cupcakes 6 Ways with Tip 1M.
- Decorate with blackberries, dried lavender, nonpareils and sparkling sugar.
I was dubious about the lavender, but it pairs beautifully with the blackberry. It is subtle enough to make the flavor complex and interesting without being overwhelming.
As a Colorado native I appreciate that your recipes always work well at high altitude.
I have 2 pieces of feedback for you. First, if you could list the ingredients by weight as well as volume I would appreciate it very much.
The second is, on your recipe card you could list the ingredient amount in the instructions so we don’t have to scroll up and down so much.
For example, instead of “mix the butter and sugar” you could instead write “mix the 3/4 cup of butter with the 2 cups of sugar.”
I have tried many of your recipes and they never fail to impress.
Thank you for your hard work.
I’m so glad you loved the flavors!