
One thing I love about springtime is seeing all the bees flying about 🐝 In honour of our buzzin’ buddies, I baked up some honey cupcakes that I brushed with Meadowland’s Goldfinch simple syrup. Once the cuppies were cool, I topped ‘em with chamomile honey Italian meringue buttercream, wee flowers, and poppyseeds 🧁🌿 Delicately flavoured and oh-so-scrumptious, you best bee-lieve these treats didn’t last long in our house.
PrintHoney Cupcakes with Chamomile Honey Buttercream
- Yield: 12 cupcakes 1x
Ingredients
Scale
Honey Cupcakes:
- 2 cups (240g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ cup (170g) whole milk, room temp
- ¼ cup (57g) plain yoghurt, room temp
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 4 Tbsp (84g) honey
- 2 large eggs, room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1–2 Tbsp Meadowland Goldfinch Simple Syrup
Chamomile Honey Buttercream:
- 2 large egg whites, room temp
- ⅛ tsp cream of tartar
- ⅛ tsp salt
- ½ cup + 3 Tbsp (136g) granulated sugar, divided
- 3 Tbsp water
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, cubed & room temp
- ½ cup (160g) Meadowland Goldfinch Simple Syrup
Instructions
Honey Cupcakes:
- Heat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake pan with baking cups.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a liquid measuring cup, whisk together milk and yoghurt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar, and honey on medium speed until smooth.
- Add eggs one at a time, mixing until thoroughly combined. Mix in vanilla.
- Starting and ending with the flour mixture, add dry ingredients and wet ingredients to butter mixture alternately. With mixer on low speed, mix until combined, being careful not to overmix. Scrape down bowl as necessary after each addition.
- Fill baking cups ⅔ to ¾ full with batter. (The 2-ounce #16 disher from our Ice Cream Shoppe box is the perfect tool for this!)
- Bake for 15–17 minutes. Cupcakes are done when a wooden pick inserted in the centre comes out clean with only a few fluffy crumbs attached.
- Cool cupcakes in pan for 5–10 minutes, then remove and transfer to wire rack.
- Using a toothpick, poke some holes in the top of the cupcakes while they’re still warm, then brush tops with simple syrup. Allow cupcakes to cool completely.
Chamomile Honey Buttercream:
- Once the cupcakes are totally cool, make the frosting. First, wipe down your mixer bowl and whisk attachment with white vinegar or lemon juice. This removes any residual fat from previous projects, as fat is the enemy of meringue!
- In the squeaky-clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt on medium. Slowly add 3 Tbsp (37g) of sugar, beating until soft peaks form.
- While eggs are being whisked, combine remaining ½ cup (99g) sugar and water in a small pot. While stirring, heat on low until sugar dissolves. Then increase heat to medium-high and bring mixture to a boil.
- Cook sugar mixture until it reaches 235–240°F (soft-ball stage). Upon reaching soft-ball stage, remove saucepan from heat immediately.
- With mixer on low, slowly and carefully pour hot sugar syrup into bowl with egg white mixture.
- Keep mixing on medium until entire bowl is cool to the touch and the meringue is room temperature. (This may take a while.)
NOTE: Seriously, don’t stop until the bottom of the mixer bowl is completely room temperature, lest your meringue will not be happy when you start adding the butter. - Pause for a moment to admire how beautiful and shiny your meringue is.
- With mixer on medium, add butter one cube at a time, allowing each piece to be fully incorporated before adding the next cube.
NOTE: Your frosting may look really funky, chunky, or soupy as it’s working to incorporate the butter. Just trust the process and allow the mixer to do its thing. Go pet your dog, flip through a magazine, or email your mom, then check the buttercream’s progress every 5 minutes or so. - Once the buttercream looks beautiful and smooth, add simple syrup. Keep mixing until buttercream is once again creamy and smooth.
- Pipe or spread frosting on the cooled cupcakes. Decorate as you like with edible flowers, poppyseeds, sprinkles, royal icing bees, what-have-you.
- Refrigerate the cupcakes until you’re ready to serve them. Allow cupcakes to come to room temperature before you share ‘em, as cold buttercream = hard buttercream.
Notes
Cupcakes adapted from: A Cozy Kitchen
Italian meringue buttercream adapted from: Preppy Kitchen
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