Lemon Lavender Cake

Make your own sunshine.

It was dark and dreary here in Chicago for almost a week. It rained day after day. (I should be lucky that it was rain and not snow.) Everyone's energy waned. I felt like napping all the time. In the midst of these dog days of winter, there’s a bright spot: citrus season.

No, they're not local, but they're what we have. In late fall, after the farmers markets close down for the season, I think: Well, time for six months without delicious local fruit. Then I trudge over to the grocery store and spy the jewels we get from elsewhere: lemons, oranges, grapefruit, pomegranates, and the illusive passionfruit. And yes, I buy a pineapple sometimes.

But it's lemons, most of all, that sing to me. I love a grapefruit, a cara cara orange, or a blood orange, but there's just something about the straightforward zingy flavor of lemon that shines in bakes.

Every time I make a lemon cake, I'm reminded why they stand on the podium of my favorite cakes. But I can't leave things alone, so I shoved some lavender in this one. And don't fret, this cake doesn't taste like perfume or soap. The lavender adds an ethereal lift and an enchanting aroma that leaves you wanting another bite. (And, to be honest, you can leave the lavender out and still have an outstanding lemon cake.)

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Lemon Lavender Cake

This cake uses butter cake ratio of a Victoria Sandwich sponge: equal parts (by weight) of sugar, butter, eggs (weighed in their shell), and self-rising flour. It's a buttery, rich cake. Think of it as a lighter version of pound cake. Any good lemon cake has a triple dose of lemon: a buttery, lemon-scented cake, a generous, tangy lemon glaze, and a bright lemon icing. The pinch of turmeric in the cake gives it a sunny lemon color without adding flavor or food coloring. And don't skip the lemon extract. It's made with the natural oil from lemon zests and really amplifies the flavor.

Ratios: Each of these ingredients weigh 175 grams.

This cake is made in this 6-cup bundt tin. You can also put it in a standard loaf pan, but it will take a longer to bake. I love this size of this bundt pan, because they're perfect for a small-to-medium-sized group.

Makes one half-size bundt cake, serves about 8-10.

Cake

Zest of 2 medium lemons

2 teaspoons dried lavender (food-grade, organic)

175 g sugar, ideally superfine or caster sugar

175 g unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon lemon extract

3 large eggs, room temperature

175 g self-rising flour (or 175 g all-purpose flour plus 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, whisked)

2 Tablespoons milk

Glaze

100 g lemon juice (from about 1 1/2 medium lemons)

100 g granulated sugar

1 heaping teaspoon dried lavender

Icing

100 g powdered sugar

3 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice (from about 1/2 of a medium lemon)

Generously butter a 6-cup bundt pan. (That's a small one!) Heat the oven to 350F/180C with a rack in the middle of the oven.

Zest the lemons into the bowl of a food processor (ideally a mini one). Add the lavender and sugar, then pulse until the lavender and lemon zest are finely ground.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, add the lemon-lavender sugar, butter, salt, turmeric, and baking powder. Mix on low speed until combined and then cream on medium-low speed for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy. Halfway through mixing, scrape down the bowl and beaters, then continue mixing. Crack the eggs into a measuring cup and beat with a fork. After the butter and sugar look fluffy, add the lemon extract, then slowly stream in the beaten eggs while the mixer is running as if you were drizzling oil to make mayonnaise. After adding all of the egg, scrape down the beater and bowl and beat again for a few seconds.

Sift in half of the flour, and pulse 5-6 times to combine. Add the remaining flour and pulse 5-6 more times.  Stop when you still see streaks of unmixed flour. Add the milk, then fold the batter with a rubber spatula just until you don't see any streaks of flour.

Dollop your batter into the prepared pan. Bang it on the countertop a few times to get the batter to settle into the grooves of the bundtpan, then spread it evenly around the pan.

Bake at 350F for 35-37 minutes, until the cake springs back when you gently press it in the thickest part.

While the cake bakes, add 100 g lemon juice, 100 g sugar, and 1 teaspoon of dried lavender to a small saucepan. Bring this to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, and let steep for at least five minutes, then strain the mixture into a small bowl.

Let the cake cool for 10 minutes, then invert it onto a cooling rack. Gently poke the cake with a toothpick or cake tester. Brush the warm cake with the lemon-lavender syrup. Let the cake cool completely before icing.

Once the cake is cool, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice until you have a thick icing. You want a thick icing that you can pipe on the cake without it running off. Add more lemon juice or powdered sugar to get it to the right viscosity. You can either transfer the icing to a piping bag and pipe a design on the cake, or just use a spoon and drizzle it on however you want. It's your cake.

The cake will last for 3 days, covered at room temperature. The lavender flavor emerges a bit more on the second day.

Happy Baking,
Martin