Thanks for the recipe, but I think it needs an edit. For the lemon cupcakes, you should instruct bakers to use room temperature/soft butter, and, like you do in the buttercream instructions, instruct bakers to mix together the butter until smooth, then mix in the eggs and sugar. My first two times making this were not very successful because I had lumpy butter; thinking perhaps it wasn’t room temperature “enough,” I decided to leave the butter out all day, and soften it a little extra in the microwave. It was definitely room temperature, and though my lumps are not as big as they were in my first two attempts, I definitely still have lumps. Any suggestions? In my first attempt, I was able to get rid of the majority of the lumps by strenuously mixing the entire mixture, but I over-mixed the flour and my cupcakes were too dense.

Also – – for those who want to DIY their own lavender simple syrup, I would caution against this. The fat separates from the buttercream when you add the syrup, and results in that grainy sort of texture. Maybe the Parisian one she uses is better, but for some reason, infused lavender + sugar + water does not play well with butter and powdered sugar.