Mild vanilla cupcakes with vanilla honey buttercream icing that has just the proper amount of honey taste without being too sweet.

I’ve been unwell for a week. It meant plenty of tea (I don’t even drink tea), Hot Toddies, salt water gargles, cough pills, and Nyquil.

Apart from why there was so much lemon and honey in my food, I don’t mind having a lot of lemon and honey in my diet.

I desired honey once I began feeling better. Moreover, as drinking honey directly from the bottle is probably not allowed, I devised a delectable substitute.

I had a box of off-brand Honeycombs cereal in the cupboard, so I grabbed a handful of them to snack on while I planned my meal.

Next I decided to wash down the Honeycombs with a honey latte (which is not at all difficult to prepare, by the way) made with a Starbucks Vanilla K-Cup.

So, as I sat on my kitchen floor (despite the fact that I had a perfectly excellent dining room table with four seats to pick from), it dawned to me that the combination of honey and vanilla is delectable. This would definitely taste fantastic with icing.

So I took a tried-and-true white cupcake recipe and tweaked it a little to get the appropriate combination of honey and vanilla.

Next I created the icing as a honey and vanilla buttercream, which worked out perfectly.

I opted to make small cupcakes because when I test a new recipe, I prefer to have bite-sized samples to present to friends and colleagues for feedback and troubleshooting. My day work includes quality assurance, and I definitely do not leave it at the door.

They are light and not too sweet. These don’t smell like vanilla or honey, which is strange to me, but the flavor is a wonderful combination of both.

I hope you like these as much as I do.