How to make lavender and lemon cake

18 Jul

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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.

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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]

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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.

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55 Responses to “How to make lavender and lemon cake”

  1. Dailyinakitchen July 18, 2014 at 8:22 am #

    This looks delicious!!

    • thehungrymum July 18, 2014 at 9:30 am #

      thanks 🙂 It is a great cake as it isn’t too sweet.

  2. scarletscorchdroppers July 18, 2014 at 8:26 am #

    Such a pretty bake! I love the lavendar on top, gives it so much rustic charm.

    • thehungrymum July 18, 2014 at 9:32 am #

      Cheers. I’ve always loved lavender & it adds such a lovely taste to cakes.

  3. thefolia July 18, 2014 at 9:41 am #

    What a lovely combination.

    • thehungrymum July 18, 2014 at 9:47 am #

      The flavours meld together so well 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.

  4. Choc Chip Uru July 18, 2014 at 12:45 pm #

    I had to pin this, what a delicious looking cake! And my favourite flavour of lavender too (besides chocolate :P)

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

  5. Fran @ G'day Souffle' July 18, 2014 at 3:31 pm #

    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!

    • thehungrymum November 13, 2014 at 5:06 am #

      I hope by now you’ve had a go at it – it has taken me 4 months to find your resposne 🙂

  6. leaf (the indolent cook) July 19, 2014 at 6:52 am #

    I’ve always thought it would be so great to have a lemon tree. This cake looks delicious!

    • thehungrymum July 19, 2014 at 11:40 am #

      You really can’t beat picking a lemon off the tree at whim 🙂 Hope you make this cake – it is gooood.

  7. cheergerm July 19, 2014 at 8:56 am #

    Love lemon and this looks well tasty, lovely pairing with lavender.

  8. Liz July 20, 2014 at 4:10 am #

    yes, please. So pretty!

    • thehungrymum July 21, 2014 at 11:32 am #

      Here, have a slice 🙂

      • Liz July 21, 2014 at 7:23 pm #

        thank you, mum! 😀

  9. Helen | Grab Your Fork July 20, 2014 at 7:20 am #

    Such a lovely looking cake! And I often reduce the amount of sugar in cakes too.

    • thehungrymum July 20, 2014 at 8:27 am #

      Cheers! I find most recipes are far too sweet – some are just sickly 😦

  10. glamorous glutton July 20, 2014 at 8:01 am #

    Great looking cake, how wonderful to have such fresh lemons to use. GG

    • thehungrymum July 20, 2014 at 8:26 am #

      Fresh lemons impart such a wonderful zing 🙂 Thanks for stopping by x

  11. Dina@Kitchen Dreaming July 21, 2014 at 9:06 am #

    Thanks for coming and linking up at The Weekend Social. Please be sure to come back next week starting Thursdays at 9PM EST on Kitchen Dreaming.com ! Pinned

  12. dedy oktavianus pardede July 21, 2014 at 10:05 am #

    Wow, nice ones,
    my sister is somekind of edible flower enthusiast and i just mailed her this recipe,
    thx my friend!!!

    • thehungrymum July 21, 2014 at 11:33 am #

      Excellent – hope she enjoys the recipe 🙂

  13. Chris @ Shared Appetite July 22, 2014 at 1:15 pm #

    This cake is beautiful…. I bet it tastes amazing too 🙂 YUM!

    • thehungrymum July 23, 2014 at 2:56 am #

      Thanks Chris – it was absolutely delish 🙂

  14. cecilia July 22, 2014 at 1:59 pm #

    Oh HOW I wish i had a neglected lemon tree! I love to cook with lavender too, divine cake! c

    • thehungrymum July 22, 2014 at 9:39 pm #

      That tree is worth its weight in gold/ lemons 🙂 How it keeps producing when we barely remember to water is beyond me.

  15. Sarah 'n Spice July 22, 2014 at 9:52 pm #

    Looks divine!

    • thehungrymum July 25, 2014 at 12:58 am #

      Merci! It is a perfect afternoon tea cake.

  16. Denise | Sweet Peas & Saffron July 22, 2014 at 10:01 pm #

    Mmm…love a good lemon cake. Wish I had a lemon tree! Bet those lemons taste absolutely amazing fresh from the tree!

    • thehungrymum July 23, 2014 at 2:57 am #

      To be honest the lemons taste great straight from the tree but the seeds! Oh my – there are *so* many of them 🙂

  17. Pamela @ Brooklyn Farm Girl July 23, 2014 at 1:27 am #

    Ultra delicious and moist.. and it has to smell amazing too! 🙂

    • thehungrymum July 23, 2014 at 2:56 am #

      The smell as it was baking was almost unbearable 🙂 #yummy

  18. Tiffany @ Triple Crème Decadence July 23, 2014 at 8:00 pm #

    Aromatic and delicious, this would be exquisite with a cup of tea!

    • thehungrymum July 25, 2014 at 12:54 am #

      Yes! You’re right – now, to boil the kettle 🙂

  19. Michael's Woodcraft July 25, 2014 at 1:08 am #

    I have never had lavender lemon cake, looks delicious! I bet it had your house smelling great! 🙂

    • thehungrymum July 25, 2014 at 1:32 am #

      It was the first time I’d had lavender cake, too – but it won’t be the last 🙂

  20. alenawoo July 29, 2014 at 10:22 pm #

    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.

    • thehungrymum July 30, 2014 at 3:35 am #

      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.

  21. gottagetbaked August 1, 2014 at 12:26 am #

    Ooooooh I have a big bag of edible lavender just begging to be made into this moist, rich lemon cake! How did you know? 😉

  22. Sara | Belly Rumbles (@bellyrumbles) August 2, 2014 at 1:03 am #

    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.

    • thehungrymum August 2, 2014 at 7:58 am #

      Yes, a lot of lemons is a happy problem 🙂

  23. LFFL August 2, 2014 at 3:11 pm #

    And it makes it so pretty.

  24. Chez @ Chez Moi August 14, 2014 at 9:12 am #

    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 🙂

    • thehungrymum August 14, 2014 at 9:27 am #

      Lady-like! I love the sound of that 🙂 Lavender is an easy way to take a cake from meh to amazing!

  25. Monica | Life Out Of Bounds June 18, 2015 at 11:02 pm #

    Of course, trust me to find another lavender recipe! May just have to try making this one soon. 🙂

    • thehungrymum June 22, 2015 at 5:51 am #

      You must be drawn to the scent of the bloom 😉

  26. honey bee October 6, 2015 at 5:37 pm #

    Looks very yummy..

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