White Chocolate, Honey, and Chamomile Cupcakes

Cupcake, oh cupcake, how I’ve neglected thee. When I first started this blog, I baked nothing but cupcakes, baking through my favorite cookbook (and namesake), The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. But now, whither the cupcake recipes? The last cupcake recipe I baked, tiramisu cupcakes, was back in October. Pretty pathetic, considering cupcakes are allegedly my favorite dessert.

 

But I think I know what happened — there was a while in which I was obsessed with trying out new recipes from foodgawker.com. I even kept a really detailed Google Doc full of them. But here’s the thing: the list contained hardly any cupcake recipes. Why? Cupcake recipes on foodgawker are either far between or simply blah. Okay, to be fair, by blah, I really just mean your standard classic flavors like vanilla/chocolate/red velvet… good, yes, but stuff I’d already made. I wanted to try something new, something exciting, something unique.

 

Something like these white chocolate, honey, and chamomile cupcakes:

I’m lucky enough to live in Portland, Oregon, where ridiculous* things like artisan supermarkets and specialty food stores are in abundance.

 

 

And one of my biggest weaknesses is, yep, artisan chocolate. And you’ll bet that every supermarket a stone’s throw away from me sells a ton of such chocolate — you know the kind. Gourmet, small batch, local, fairtrade, buzzword, buzzword, etc.

 

One of my recent discoveries is a brand called The Tea Room, that sells tea-infused chocolates. Yep, you heard that right. Tea-infused chocolate. I know, I know, my life is so Pinterest. I’ve tried most of their flavors: milk chocolate infused with jasmine, dark chocolate with Earl Grey, so on. And as I was scarfing down my favorite, a white chocolate bar infused with honey and chamomile, I thought to myself: wouldn’t this make a great cupcake?

And yes, yes it did.

 

Now, I started out by searching my usual food sources to see if a recipe for white chocolate, honey, and chamomile cupcakes already existed. The closest I found was a recipe for honey and chamomile cupcakes from the renowned and much beloved Joy the Baker.  I eagerly whipped up a batch but found her cupcakes to be too… well, grainy. Don’t get me wrong, I love Joy, but these cupcakes weren’t what I was looking for. The problem was, she’d left the chamomile tea leaves in the batter, leading to an odd texture that reminded me of banana bread. Good, yes, but not the fluffy and delicate crumb I seek in a cupcake.

 

So it got me thinking — what if I followed my beloved Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook‘s trick (as seen in their recipe for lavender cupcakes) and infused the milk with chamomile tea instead, leaving all the flavor of the tea but none of its grit behind?

 

It worked wonders. The cake was light and fluffy, but with a strong flavor of chamomile complemented by honey and white chocolate. This cupcake is like a cup of warm tea on a cold winter’s day.

 

A steady reminder that, when in doubt, always trust the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook‘s method. They know what’s up. Please note you’ll have to make the chamomile infused milk a day in advanced for this recipe; but rest assured that it’s worth it.