Vegan Lavender Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting

I love the smell of lavender!  It's second only to the smell of fresh bread from the oven.  I decided to go vegan for this recipe mainly because I was completely out of eggs.  I need to go grocery shopping....I digress.  These cupcakes are light and not too overwhelming in either sweetness nor flavor.

1 cup plain soy milk (unsweetened)
Juice from 1/2 of a lemon
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoon corn starch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 vegetable oil
3/4 cup raw sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoon dried lavender flowers
Lemon frosting

Preheat the oven to 350. Line muffins pans.

In a small bowl, mix the lemon and milk together. Sit aside for 10 minutes to allow the milk to curdle.  You have now made soy buttermilk!  (So much cheaper than buttermilk you buy in the store...you can do this with regular milk and lemon as well.)

In a medium sized bowl, combing the flour, corn starch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Mix briefly.

In a separate medium sized bowl, whisk the oil, sugar, and vanilla extract together.  Add the flour mixture and combine until smooth.  Sprinkle in the lavender, roughly rubbing the lavender between your fingers are you add (this will help release some of the flavor of the flower).  Mix and then add the mixture to the prepared pan.  I made mini-cupcakes which took about 12 minutes to cook.  If you use regular sized muffin tins, increase the time to about 15 minutes.  What carefully to not brown.  Top with the frosting.

Note - The flowers on top are made out of gum paste.