Orange-Lavender Easter Egg Treats
Serves: approximately 27
 
Ingredients
  • 1⁄2 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons culinary dried lavender
  • 1 1⁄2 cups unbleached cake flour
  • 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1⁄4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1⁄2 cup whole milk, room temperature
  • 1⁄2 cup prepared orange curd
  • 1 cup yellow candy coating
  • 1 cup orange candy coating
  • 1 cup blue candy coating
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil or other neutral oil, divided
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 9-inch square baking pan with baking spray with flour. Line pan with parchment paper, letting excess extend over sides of pan.
  2. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar with a mixer at medium speed until fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in lavender.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. With mixer at low speed, gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating just until combined after each addition, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with an offset spatula.
  4. Bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack.
  5. Line 2 large, rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Place in refrigerator or freezer to chill.
  6. Using excess parchment as handles, remove cooled cake from pan. Crumble cake into a large bowl. Add orange curd to cake crumbles; beat together with a mixer at medium-low speed until combined. (Mixture will be crumbly but should stick together when pressed in hands). Using a levered 1-tablespoon scoop, portion mixture. Roll each portion into an egg-shaped ball and place on a prepared baking sheet. Cover baking sheet with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 1 hour.
  7. Place candy coating in medium microwave-safe bowls (one color per bowl). Working with one bowl at a time, microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until melted and smooth. Stir in 1 teaspoon oil into each bowl of melted candy coating until combined.
  8. Insert a wooden pick into the top of each frozen cake ball. Dip one frozen cake ball at a time into desired candy coating color, gently wiping the bottom on side of bowl. Place on remaining cold prepared baking sheet and let stand until coating has slightly firmed, 3 to 5 minutes. Once chocolate has fully set, using a twisting motion, remove wooden picks.
  9. Place remaining melted candy coating into individual piping bags and cut a 3/16-inch hole in the tips.* Decorate cake balls with melted candy coating in a back-and-forth motion or as desired and let set at room temperature until firm. Place cake balls in a single layer in an airtight container, refrigerate, and serve within a week.
Notes
*If candy coating becomes too firm to pipe, return to microwave and heat until melted again.
Recipe by TeaTime Magazine at https://teatimemagazine.com/orange-lavender-easter-egg-treats/