This lavender lemon weekend cake is fragrant and lemony, and is topped with a sweet lemon, blackberry, and lavender glaze.
This lemon lavender cake is inspired by the cakes of France. With the abundance of fields of lavender in the French countryside in the summer, a cake filled with the essence of lavender is so perfect.
You can add as much or as little of the fragrant buds or their extract depending on how much of a floral scent you prefer. I would begin with just a little and increase the amount from there until you get just the right amount for you.
For this cake, I used three teaspoons of lavender buds to flavor the lemon and lavender sugar, and for the glaze, I used just a few drops of concentrated lavender paste.
The results were delicious.... just the right amount lavender scent but not too much.
This cake's name in French, given to it by the author of the book, Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes, is Gâteau Weekend Parfumé à la Lavande. My English to French translator says "weekend" in French is actually fin de semaine, but I'll forgive her because this cake is so delicious.
Plus, the book is amazing.
My Provence Experience:
I had the privilege of seeing the beautiful lavender fields in Provence many years ago. My dad, once he semi-retired, used to rent a house every year for six weeks in the Luberon region. One year, we got to come and spend a week and explore.
The fields are as beautiful as pictured. It's an experience I'll never forget.
We visited all of the markets in the area, learned how to "behave" in France, and had such a great experience. If you are ever visiting the country, I highly recommend the books by Polly Platt, especially French or Foe.
Just recently, my husband planted a small lavender bush in honor of our trip that is thriving. It's fully in bloom right now and I wish I had remembered to use some of the super fresh buds for this cake as well as some of the petals for garnish.
Oh, the things we take for granted here in California! (Like the huge and flavorful strawberries that have been and will be in season for weeks).
This cake is so easy to make and doesn't even require a mixer.
If you need a quick dessert to have on hand for company, and even for breakfast the next day, make this cake!
Equipment You May Needed:
The only gadget you may need is a food processor to infuse the sugar with the lemon and lavender flavors. Plus, you can use the food processor to both break down the lemon peel and pulverize the dried lavender buds.
I actually used a mini food processor, one of my favorite kitchen gadgets, and it doesn't take up too much counter space.
I also used a sharp peeler to remove the peel from the lemons into strips, making sure to not capture any of the pith, which is bitter.
If you don't have a food processor, you can finely zest the lemon with a fine zester and use your fingers to knead it into the sugar, and then use a spice grinder to pulverize the dried lavender. The nice thing about about using a food processor for the lemon peel strips is that you preserve the oils.
Ingredients in this Cake:
Along with the lavender and lemon, you will need cake flour, baking powder, salt, granulated sugar, confectioner's sugar, and eggs.
Additional specialty ingredients include:
Butter: You can use unsalted, but if you want to make this "French," try French unsalted butter. I used the President brand. I'm pretty sure it's available in most supermarkets. I had no idea it was French.
Lavender Extract: I used a tiny amount of lavender paste from Taylor and Colledge. Do not use essential oils in recipes because they may not be food grade.
Crème Fraiche or Sour Cream: Either ingredient works, although crème fraiche is way more French.
Blackberry Jam: The original recipe recommends extracting the juice of the blackberries to add some color to the glaze. Instead, I added a teaspoon of blackberry jam and it worked out fine.
If you don't have dried lavender, you can substitute lavender extract in the cake batter.
Procedure:
This cake is super easy to make.
First, mix the granulated sugar with the lemon zest and the lavender in a food processor to make sure the sugar is totally infused with the flavors. If you can let it sit and steep for a while, that would be really great.
Next, whisk together the cake flour, sugar mixture, baking powder, and salt.
After that, whisk together the eggs and crème fraîche.
Add the melted butter to the flour mixture and then quickly mix in the egg mixture. Try not to overmix.
Finally, pour the ingredients into a prepared pan and bake. Once the cake has baked, let it cool and then cover it with the glaze.
Variations:
You can substitute several flowers for the lavender, including roses, orange flowers, elderflowers, or chamomile flowers.
One of my favorite flower flavors is hibiscus, which you can find easily. It's fabulous for making hibiscus syrup. Hibiscus is actually less "floral" in flavor and great for tea and cocktails.
Welcome to this Month's Cake Slice Bakers!
Follow our Facebook page where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the links below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.
The Cake Slice Bakers also have a Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.
Lavender Lemon Weekend Cake
- All That's Left Are The Crumbs
- A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Karen's Kitchen Stories
Breton Butter Almond Cake
The illustrations in this book are lovely watercolors. Check out mine using the Waterlogue app after the recipe. Pretty cool, right?
Lavender Lemon Weekend Cake
Ingredients
- 200 grams (1 cup) granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh or dried lavender buds
- Strips of zest from three small lemons
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, French butter preferred
- 200 grams (1 2/3 cups) cake flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup crème fraîche or sour cream
- 114 grams (1 cup) confectioner's sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons blackberry jelly
- 1/8 teaspoon lavender paste, or 1/4 teaspoon lavender extract
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 1 pound loaf pan (8 1/2 inch by 4 1/2 inch) loaf pan with spray oil and line it with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper with spray oil.
- In the bowl of a food processor combine the sugar, lavender buds, and zest strips. Pulse until the ingridients are combined and the sugar is infused with all of the flavors. Let rest.
- Melt the butter over low heat and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar mixture, baking powder, and salt.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and crème fraîche.
- Pour the butter into the flour mixture, stir everything together, and then add the egg mixture immediately. Using a rubber spatula, mix everything together until combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cool in the pan for ten minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Whisk together the sugar, lemon juice, blackberry jelly, and lavender paste.
- Once the cake has cooled completely, spoon the glaze over the cake.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
195.54Fat (grams)
7.52 gSat. Fat (grams)
4.2 gCarbs (grams)
29.9 gFiber (grams)
0.33 gNet carbs
29.57 gSugar (grams)
20.36 gProtein (grams)
2.93 gCholesterol (grams)
52.29 mg
I would love to go to Provence. It is on my bucket list. Next spring we are going to Normandy so I am going to see if my library has Friend or Foe. Thanks for the recommendation.
ReplyDeleteLucky you! My sister went to the Loire Valley and on to Normandy after our Provence trip. She loved it.
DeleteA beautiful loaf! I'm kind of timid to use lavender, but this one is calling my name!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I did go easy on the lavender....
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