With a glut of lemons beckoning from our oft-neglected but much loved lemon tree it was time to get baking. Lemon shortbread. Lemon and yogurt loaf. And this delicious cake that will make your mouth sing of all the pretty things. I discovered this recipe on the BBC site, which I find to be a wonderful resource when baking. It is from Paul Hollywood, who is quite the hero baker in his native Britain. I tweaked it a bit, switching his plain flour/ baking powder mix for straight self-raising flour and reducing the sugar. Considering the cake is finished with two different types of sugar I would even suggest minimising the amount of sugar in the recipe proper if your tooth isn’t overly sweet.
This is a delicious, dense, moist cake that will keep well for several days in a container in a dark place.
Gather:
For the cake
250g self-raising flour
110grams caster sugar
1½ tbsp edible lavender
Finely grated zest of two lemons
2 large free-range eggs
200g Greek yogurt
100g unsalted butter, melted
For the drizzle
juice of 1 lemon, strained
2 tbsp icing sugar
To finish
1 tablespoon caster sugar
Edible lavender [ie not sprayed]
Let’s get to it:
Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line a loaf tin.
In a large bowl stir together flour, sugar, zest and lavender.
In a large jug mix together the melted butter, eggs and yogurt until just combined, then pour into bowl and stir together. Do not over-mix.
Scrape mixture into tin and bake for around 40 minutes.
When cake is ready prick all over, then drizzle over the combined lemon juice and icing sugar.
Allow cake to soak up juice before sprinkling with extra sugar and lavender.
Allow to cool in tin before slicing.
This looks delicious!!
thanks 🙂 It is a great cake as it isn’t too sweet.
Such a pretty bake! I love the lavendar on top, gives it so much rustic charm.
Cheers. I’ve always loved lavender & it adds such a lovely taste to cakes.
What a lovely combination.
The flavours meld together so well 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.
I had to pin this, what a delicious looking cake! And my favourite flavour of lavender too (besides chocolate :P)
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I’ve never tried lavender before, but I’m certainly game. And now that you mention other lemon recipes from your lemon tree (i.e. shortbread and lemon yogurt), I’m now waiting on pins and needles!
I hope by now you’ve had a go at it – it has taken me 4 months to find your resposne 🙂
I’ve always thought it would be so great to have a lemon tree. This cake looks delicious!
You really can’t beat picking a lemon off the tree at whim 🙂 Hope you make this cake – it is gooood.
Love lemon and this looks well tasty, lovely pairing with lavender.
yes, please. So pretty!
Here, have a slice 🙂
thank you, mum! 😀
Such a lovely looking cake! And I often reduce the amount of sugar in cakes too.
Cheers! I find most recipes are far too sweet – some are just sickly 😦
Great looking cake, how wonderful to have such fresh lemons to use. GG
Fresh lemons impart such a wonderful zing 🙂 Thanks for stopping by x
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Thanks for Pinning! I’ll be back 🙂
Wow, nice ones,
my sister is somekind of edible flower enthusiast and i just mailed her this recipe,
thx my friend!!!
Excellent – hope she enjoys the recipe 🙂
This cake is beautiful…. I bet it tastes amazing too 🙂 YUM!
Thanks Chris – it was absolutely delish 🙂
Oh HOW I wish i had a neglected lemon tree! I love to cook with lavender too, divine cake! c
That tree is worth its weight in gold/ lemons 🙂 How it keeps producing when we barely remember to water is beyond me.
Looks divine!
Merci! It is a perfect afternoon tea cake.
Mmm…love a good lemon cake. Wish I had a lemon tree! Bet those lemons taste absolutely amazing fresh from the tree!
To be honest the lemons taste great straight from the tree but the seeds! Oh my – there are *so* many of them 🙂
Ultra delicious and moist.. and it has to smell amazing too! 🙂
The smell as it was baking was almost unbearable 🙂 #yummy
Aromatic and delicious, this would be exquisite with a cup of tea!
Yes! You’re right – now, to boil the kettle 🙂
I have never had lavender lemon cake, looks delicious! I bet it had your house smelling great! 🙂
It was the first time I’d had lavender cake, too – but it won’t be the last 🙂
Yum, lavender! Did you pick it out of your garden or did you buy it from somewhere? I’ve been looking for edible lavender everywhere but I’m not sure if you can just pick it straight from the garden and chuck it fresh into baking.
I should have mentioned in the post: my mum grew it & dried it for me. As long as you can be 100% sure that no pesticides have been used you can use lavender from the garden. Just airdry it. Thanks for stopping by.
Ooooooh I have a big bag of edible lavender just begging to be made into this moist, rich lemon cake! How did you know? 😉
Love lemons, you are so lucky to have a glut of them. This is the perfect afternoon tea cake, so pretty with the lavender on top too.
Yes, a lot of lemons is a happy problem 🙂
And it makes it so pretty.
Nature makes everything better 🙂
I love the sound of this, so old-fashioned and lady-like. I’ve never eaten any dish with lavender, but you’ve convinced me to give it a go 🙂
Lady-like! I love the sound of that 🙂 Lavender is an easy way to take a cake from meh to amazing!
Of course, trust me to find another lavender recipe! May just have to try making this one soon. 🙂
You must be drawn to the scent of the bloom 😉
Looks very yummy..
Thanks so much!