This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
This Lavender Lemon & Honey cake is scrummy served as a pud with berries and mascarpone, creme fraiche or Greek yoghurt. You can buy dried, edible lavender from baking suppliers and some supermarkets. Alternatively, if you have lavender growing in your garden, you can use fresh buds and leaves, finely chopped.
LAVENDER LEMON & HONEY CAKE
Ingredients
4 heads of lavender
225g unsalted butter, softened
100g unrefined golden caster sugar
225g finely ground almonds
1 tspn vanilla extract
3 large eggs
grated zest of 2 unwaxed lemons
juice of half a lemon
75g honey
110g polenta
1/2 tspn baking powder
pinch of salt
How to prepare
Preheat oven to 160°C/gas 2.5. Grease and flour a 20cm loose bottomed cake tin. Finely chop the lavender and add to the sugar.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric hand mixer until fluffy and pale in colour. Stir in the ground almonds and vanilla extract until combined. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Fold in the lemon zest and juice, honey, polenta, baking powder and salt.
Scrape into the prepared tin, level the surface and bake in the oven for 45 mins or until the centre springs back to the touch.