May 20, 2023

Lavender Lemon Weekend Cake ~ #TheCakeSliceBakers

Lavender and lemon complement each other perfectly in this delicious loaf cake. Topped with a
simple lemon glaze it’s the perfect afternoon tea treat, especially with a cup of Billy tea.




The Cake Slice Bakers continue to bake through - Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes by Aleksandra Crapanzano this year. Aleksandra, a James Beard Award–winning writer, shares her secrets of the cakes Parisians like to bake at home. Recipes such as a simple yogurt cake, a surprisingly easy Bûche De Noël, and Walnut Pear and Roquefort Madeleines will show you the surprising simplicity of a French cake.




The Cake Slice Bakers are a group of dedicated bakers who all love cake. Each year we choose a new cake-centric cookbook and bake our way through it. Every month we are given 3 choices and on the 20th day of each month we reveal what we have chosen on our blogs. This month's choices were Lavender Lemon Weekend Cake, Concorde Chocolate Meringue and Mousse Cake, and Pine Nut Weekend Cake. I can never resist a sponge cake so it was an easy choice.




This really is the perfect weekend cake.  Pretty easy to put together, and goes very well with a nice cuppa.  I would like to try baking it again with a slightly different method of preparation.  I'm not really a big fan of melted butter or oil in a cake, even though it does make the prep quicker and easier.  I much prefer to cream the butter and sugar as I think it makes the cake rise better.  Also, with this cake I did halve the amount of lavender as it can sometimes over-power a cake and give it a soap-like taste.  This was the right amount for me, but fans of lavender may want to go with the amount in the recipe.


Lavender Lemon Weekend Cake

Ingredients
Cake ~
  • 200g (1 cup) granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon fresh or dried lavender buds, or to taste
  • the zest of three lemons, in strips, juice reserved for the glaze
  • 100g (7 tablespoons) butter
  • 200g (1⅔ cups) all-purpose or cake flour
  • 1¼ teaspoons baking powder
  • 3 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 120g (½ cup) crème fraîche or sour cream
Glaze ~
  • 115g (1 cup) powdered sugar
  • 45ml (3 tablespoons) lemon juice
  • ¼ teaspoon lavender extract, optional
  • 1 teaspoon lavender buds, optional
Preparation
Cake ~
  1. Preheat the oven to 180℃.
  2. Spray a 20cm x 10cm (8½ x 4½-inch) loaf pan with baking spray.
  3. Combine the granulated sugar, lavender, and lemon zest in a food processor and pulse until the zest and lavender have been broken down and are barely visible; if possible  leave the mixer in the processor  for half an hour  or so to let the citrus and lavender infuse the sugar.
  4. Melt the butter and set aside.
  5. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, scented sugar, and baking powder to combine.
  6. In a smaller mixing bowl, whisk the eggs to break them up a bit; add the crème fraîche and whisk to combine.
  7. Pour the melted butter over the dry ingredients and give it two or three stirs with a rubber spatula, then immediately add the egg and cream mixture and stir to combine until no streaks of flour remain - avoid over-mixing.
  8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
  9. Place on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes, then unmold the cake and let it continue to cool on the rack; it should be room temperature before being glazed.
Glaze ~
  1. Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, lavender extract; stir well to liquify.
  2. Pour the glaze over the cake, and if using the lavender buds, scatter them over the glaze for visual effect.
  3. Serve, if you would like, with a dollop of crème fraîche.






Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes by Aleksandra Crapanzano. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!

Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages 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 new 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.




It is a new year and a new book - Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes - and our choices for May 2023 were ~



Lavender Lemon Weekend Cake

Breton Butter Almond Cake

Karen's Kitchen Stories
  • No one in the group baked this cake at this time



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