One of my favorite springtime flavor combos is blackberry and lavender! These light, lavender cupcakes are filled with homemade blackberry jam and topped with lavender buttercream and fresh blackberries!
If you love a fruity and floral flavor combo, you might also like these lavender macarons or these strawberry filled cupcakes!
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Ingredient Notes
You just need a few simple ingredients to make these blackberry lavender cupcakes!
Cake Flour - I always use cake flour in my cupcakes because it makes them super soft and tender, but all purpose flour also works great!
Milk - I use milk in my cupcakes to keep them nice and moist, but you could also substitute full-fat plain yogurt or sour cream!
Blackberries - I prefer using fresh blackberries, but you can also use frozen blackberries to make the filling!
Lavender - I use both a combination of dried culinary grade lavender and lavender extract, for these cupcakes. More on that below! You can find lavender extract in the baking aisle at most grocery stores, or online! Just note that lavender extract is very strong, so a little goes a long way!
Purple Food Coloring - I used a tiny drop of purple food coloring to get this pretty lavender color. But you can also use a teaspoon of the blackberry jam for a more pink color!
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
What is Culinary Grade Lavender?
When you're baking with flowers like lavender or rose, you always want to make sure it specifies "culinary grade" on the packaging! This ensures that the product is processed properly and intended for human consumption. I typically buy this brand on amazon!
Where to Buy Dried Lavender Flowers
You can find full bouquets of dried lavender flowers online and at local flower shops! Trader Joe's often has large bundles of dried lavender which is what I used for these photos! I also just keep it around my house at all times.
How to Make Blackberry Jam
Making homemade blackberry jam is super easy! You only need a couple of simple ingredients!
- Fresh or frozen blackberries
- Granulated sugar
- Lemon juice (optional)
- Dried lavender or lavender extract (optional)
- Add all of the jam ingredients to a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Allow the jam to simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently until thickened.
- Transfer the jam to a glass jar and allow to cool to room temperature. Store in the fridge for up to two weeks.
- That's it!
I recommend making the jam the night before you want to make the cupcakes so that it has time to fully cool. However, if you don't feel like making homemade jam, store-bought is fine! My favorite store-bought blackberry jam is Bonne Maman.
How to Make Lavender Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 12 cup cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
Whisk the cake flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk the melted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and lavender extract together until combined.
Stir in about half of the flour mixture.
Then stir in the milk and the rest of the flour mixture and mix until fully combined. The batter will be thin.
Pour about ¼ cup of batter into each cupcake liner (they should be about halfway full).
Bake at 350°F for 18-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. Let the lavender cupcakes cool completely before filling and frosting.
Use a cupcake corer to remove the center of each cupcake, then fill with 1-2 teaspoons of cooled blackberry jam.
Tips for the Best Baked Goods
Use room temperature ingredients! Always make sure ingredients like butter, eggs, milk, yogurt, etc. are at room temperature before baking (unless the recipe indicates otherwise)! This ensures they'll incorporate into the batter more easily and leads to overall better texture. Remove all ingredients from the fridge 30 minutes to an hour before baking for best results.
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, dense baked goods. [Measure cocoa powder the same way!]
Use an oven thermometer! Just because your oven says it's 350, doesn't mean it is! If you oven hasn't been calibrated recently, it can be as much as 30 degrees off, which will negatively affect all baked goods from cakes to macarons! An oven thermometer is the easiest/cheapest way to ensure your oven is always at the proper temperature.
Make sure you baking powder is fresh! Baking powder is important for helping baked goods rise properly, but it has a relatively short shelf life once opened, so it's one of the few items I never buy in bulk! To test if your baking powder is still fresh, add a small amount to boiling water. If it bubbles it's still good to use, but if not it's time to toss it!
Cupcake Decorating Tips
Make sure you let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting!!
Use a cupcake corer to easily remove the center of your cupcakes before filling with jam.
For these big beautiful frosting swirls on these blackberry lavender cupcakes, I use the 1M tip from this decorating kit. The tips are much larger than standard sizes and so fun for decorating cupcakes!
I used a tiny drop of purple food coloring to get this pretty lavender color. But you can also use a teaspoon of the blackberry jam for a more pink color.
Garnish with fresh blackberries and sprigs of dried lavender!
Recipe FAQ's
These cupcakes will last in the fridge for up to 3 days. However, they taste best when served at room temperature! I like to let them sit at room temperature for about an hour before serving.
Absolutely! If you don't want to make your own jam, just use your favorite brand!
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Blackberry Lavender Cupcakes
Special Equipment
Ingredients
Blackberry Lavender Jam
- 16 ounces blackberries, fresh or frozen
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice, optional
- ¼ teaspoon lavender extract paste, or ½ teaspoon dried lavender flowers
Lavender Cupcakes
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon lavender extract paste
- 1 ½ cups cake flour, substitute all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup milk
Lavender Buttercream
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon lavender extract paste
- 1 drop purple food coloring, optional
- 2 teaspoons heavy cream
Instructions
Blackberry Lavender Jam
- I recommend making the jam the night before you want to make the cupcakes so that it has time to fully cool.
- Add all of the jam ingredients to a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Allow the jam to simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently until thickened.
- Transfer the jam to a glass jar and allow to cool to room temperature. Store in the fridge for up to two weeks.
Lavender Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 12 cup cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
- Whisk the cake flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the melted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and lavender extract together until combined.
- Stir in about half of the flour mixture. Then stir in the milk and the rest of the flour mixture and mix until fully combined. The batter will be thin.
- Pour about ¼ cup of batter into each cupcake liner (they should be about halfway full).
- Bake at 350°F for 18-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. Let cupcakes cool completely before filling and frosting.
- Use a cupcake corer to remove the center of each cupcake, then fill with 1-2 teaspoons of cooled blackberry jam.
Lavender Buttercream
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the softened butter and powdered sugar until smooth and creamy.
- Add in the lavender extract, purple food coloring, and heavy cream. Beat the buttercream for 3-4 minutes on high speed until light and fluffy.
- Frost cooled cupcakes. I used a Wilton 1M tip for these photos.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Mei says
Thank you for the recipe! Everyone loved it and was aesthetically pleasing. The only thing I had to change from the recipe was I had to strain the seeds out when I made the blackberry jam. The seeds was a distraction. Other than that, the recipe was easy and I appreciate the technical tips!
Custard says
The cupcake recipe is wonderful. I had some icing and lavender blackberry jam frozen from a previous bake - so quick, easy and delicious!
Sequoia says
Modified these slightly to make them dairy free for my friend's birthday, and they were really lovely. I love this flavor combo, the aesthetic, all of it. Also quite easy since I opted for the store-bought jam to save time. Delicious, thank you!
Karen Kasberg says
Just wanted to say thank you for providing me with this wonderful recipe in the Roundup Palooza Facebook Group to use in my Spring recipe round-up post. The post just went live this evening. Here is the link: https://balancingmidlife.com/spring-desserts/
Brianna says
Love how the lavender compliments the blueberries. The prettiest purple cupcake!
Jessica Formicola says
Lavender is one of my favorite flavors! Mixed with blackberry in these cupcakes sounds incredible and I can't wait to try them!
Jeri says
What a beautiful-looking cupcake, plus the flavor was amazing! I made these for my friend's bridal shower, and they were a hit! Love the blackberry jam, I made a double batch!
Jere Cassidy says
If these aren't the prettiest cupcakes and truly the flavor a blackberry and lavender are so delicious together.
Debra says
Lovely and delicious cupcakes. Oh that jam tho...I could eat it by the spoonful!
Kari says
Can you use lavender extract in lieu of the paste or would it turn out differently?
Viktoria says
So pretty! 🙂