Chocolate Cupcakes with Lavender-Goat Cheese Frosting

I have a really good reason you should turn on your oven in this Summer heat…

…these cupcakes! They’re absolutely worth warming up the house for 20 minutes—trust me!

Wait, are you busy curling up your nose at the thought of using goat cheese in a frosting? Again, you’re going to have to trust me here, it’s freakin’ delicious, and addictive, and I bet you won’t be able to stop sneaking finger-fulls! The slight tang goes really great with the floral lavender (um, yeah…I’m using lavender yet again) and rich chocolate cake. Plus, it’s silky smooth.

Oh, and this is not even the first time I’ve used goat cheese in a dessert. I made these cookies during Christmastime last year, and they were a humongous hit! So it totally can, and does work, you guys!

The frosting is a buttercream that has the texture of a cream cheese frosting. It’s very thick, creamy, and silky, but doesn’t do too well with piping. I just like to use a smaller cookie scoop and plop a dollop of frosting onto each cupcake—super simple, but still looks adorable (especially if you use some extra lavender buds as “sprinkles”!).

This yet another recipe that I created for my friends at Food Fanatic (and one of my favorites, for sure)! I do a bit more explaining about these awesome cupcakes over there, so remember to check out my post on their site!