High Altitude Lavender Lemon Cake

We’ve been growing edible lavender in our garden, and with a jar of dried lavender flowers on hand, I decided to make this delicious high altitude lavender lemon cake. To infuse the flavor of the lavender into the cake, I steeped lavender in milk for the cake batter, and crushed more dried lavender to whip into the buttercream.  Lavender pairs beautifully with tart lemon, and the flavor of this cake is bright, lemony, and subtly enhanced with floral notes of lavender.  The light, airy crumb and sweet tart lemon flavor makes it perfect for a summer party cake.

Looking for more recipes like this one? You’ll love homemade lemonade with ginger syrup, lavender lemonade honey popsicles, and lavender honey ice cream.

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Baking with Edible Lavender

When baking and cooking with lavender, less is more. The flavor can be quite potent, and if you overdo it, the lavender will overwhelm, rather than enhance your dish. Too much lavender will add a soapy flavor to your baking, but just the right amount adds wonderfully subtle floral notes of herbs and mint. If you’re not sure you’re going to like it, I’d suggest starting with less than the recipe calls for, and adding more later.

There are many varieties of lavender, and while all are considered edible, a few varieties are more commonly used for culinary purposes. The best lavender for cooking are the sweet scented varieties, such as English lavender.

You can bake and cook with culinary lavender in so many ways, such as steeping the dried flowers in milk to use in cakes, custards, and ice cream. Or add the stalks to your grill or campfire, to infuse the lavender smoke into grilled meat. And for a pretty garnish, scatter the fresh lavender flowers over your baked goods.

Ingredients

Cake

• Whole Milk. While I love baking cakes with buttermilk, for this recipe I used whole milk so that I could curdle it with the lemon juice. Doing so essentially creates a “lemon buttermilk”, that makes the most incredible cake.
• Dried Edible Lavender. Adds lovely floral notes to complement the lemon.
• Lemon Juice. In addition to the lemon zest, the tart lemon juice gives the cake its lemon flavor, as well as acid to help it rise.
• Lemon Zest. To really infuse lemon flavor into my cake, I grate lemons over the sugar, and then use my fingers to rub the zest into the sugar. The oils in the lemon zest coat the sugar in fresh lemon flavor, and makes this cake even more wonderful.
• Sugar. Gives the cake sweetness and moisture.
• Cake Flour. Cake flour, rather than all-purpose flour, makes a very light and fluffy cake.
• Baking Soda + Baking Powder. Both of these leaveners work together to activate the acidic ingredients and provide a beautiful rise to the cake for a very fluffy crumb.
• Salt. Everything sweet needs a pinch of salt for flavor and balance.
• Eggs + Egg Whites. The eggs provide the structure, stability and moisture, and the extra whites make the cake extra light.
• Sour Cream. Adds moisture, flavor and acidity, and contributes to the tenderness of the cake.
• Vegetable Oil. Keeps the cake moist and light.
• Vanilla Extract. Even though this is a lemon cake, I like to add a dash of vanilla to add another flavor note.

Buttercream

• Dried Edible Lavender. Adds floral notes to complement the lemon.
• Butter. I usually use unsalted butter, but if you use salted, you should omit the extra salt from the recipe.
• Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the buttercream.
• Meringue Powder. Adds stability.
• Salt. Balances the sweetness.
• Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
• Lemon Extract + Lemon Zest. Instead of lemon juice, which can curdle the butter, I flavor the buttercream with lemon extract and zest.
• Milk or Cream. Thins the buttercream.

Today’s lavender lemon cake recipe is based on my popular lemon cake, but with the extra step of steeping dried lavender in the milk first. This cake is so simple to make! After infusing the lavender into the milk, you simply whisk together the rest of the ingredients and bake the cake.

Instructions

Steep the lavender and lemon in milk.

• Pour the milk into a small saucepan, and bring just to a simmer over medium heat.  Remove from the heat, stir in the lavender, and let steep and cool for about an hour at room temperature.  Strain out the lavender bits and discard, so that you just use the lavender-infused milk.

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• Whisk the lemon juice into the lavender milk, and let sit for 15 minutes to curdle.

Prepare the cake pans.

• Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Line three 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper in the bottoms of the pans, and spray the paper with non-stick spray.  The baked cakes are sticky, and you should not skip this step of lining your pans with parchment paper.

Rub the lemon zest into the sugar.

• Measure the sugar into a large bowl, and zest the lemons over the sugar. Use your fingers to rub the lemon zest into the sugar to really infuse the lemon flavor.

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Sift the dry ingredients.

• Set a fine mesh strainer over the lemon sugar, and sift in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, then whisk together the dry ingredients with the lemon sugar.

Whisk in the liquid ingredients.

• In a separate bowl, whisk together the lavender-lemon milk, eggs, egg whites, sour cream, oil and vanilla until smooth.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk by hand until smooth, about 30 seconds.

Bake.

• Divide the batter between the pans.  Bake for 25-27 minutes, until a cake tester in the center of the cakes comes out clean and the tops spring back when lightly touched.  Set the pans on a wire rack, cover with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely.

Lavender Lemon Buttercream

• Use a mortar and pestle, or a spice grinder, to crush the lavender until powdery.
• In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter with the crushed lavender for one minute until smooth.  Scrape the bowl down.  With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt, mixing to combine.  Add the lemon extract, vanilla and lemon zest.
• Beat on medium high for about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl down occasionally, until very light and fluffy.  Add the milk as needed for desired consistency.
• Place one of the cooled cakes on a cake board. Spread with a layer of the buttercream. Spread half the lemon curd over the buttercream. Stack the next cake on top, and repeat with another layer of buttercream and lemon curd. Stack the last cake on top.
• Frost the cake all over with a thin crumb coat of buttercream, and chill the cake for 30 minutes. Frost all over with a final coat of buttercream.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does lavender taste like?

When baking and cooking with lavender, less is more. The flavor can be quite potent, and if you overdo it, the lavender will overwhelm, rather than enhance your dish. Too much lavender will add a soapy flavor to your baking, but just the right amount adds wonderfully subtle floral notes of herbs and mint. If you’re not sure you’re going to like it, I’d suggest starting with less than the recipe calls for, and adding more later.

Where can I buy culinary lavender?

You can purchase culinary lavender online, or find it in your local tea and spice shops, as well as specialty grocery stores.

What else can I use lavender in?

Besides today’s lavender lemon cake, I also have recipes for lavender lemonade honey popsicles and lavender ice cream.

Can I substitute lavender oil or lavender extract for the dried lavender?

You probably can, but I can’t say how much you should use, since I’ve never baked with lavender oil or extract.

Do I need to use cake flour?

I’ve only made this recipe using cake flour, and it produces a very light, fluffy cake.  All-purpose flour will not give you quite the same result, but should still be fine.  Be sure to sift the flour to get out any lumps.

Do my ingredients need to be room temperature?

It’s a good idea to set out your dairy products (eggs, milk, sour cream) an hour or two before you mix your batter, to let them come to room temperature.

How many lemons do I need?

Lemons can vary in size, as well as how much juice they contain.  You might need 3-4 small lemons to get 1/2 cup of juice for the cake batter.

Why don’t you use lemon juice in your lemon buttercream?

Lemon juice is very acidic, and you run the risk of curdling your buttercream if you add too much juice. If that happens, there’s no saving your buttercream. To be safe, I only use fresh lemon zest and lemon extract in my buttercream.

Can I make this into a lemon poppy seed cake?

For a lemon poppy seed cake, add two tablespoons poppy seeds to the dry ingredients.

Since you live in Denver, will this recipe work if I don’t live at high altitude?

It’s possible you could make this cake without any changes if you live at a low altitude, but you may need to increase the leavening and decrease the flour a little for perfect results. This article on high altitude baking can guide you on specific adjustments.

Can I cut this recipe in half?

Yes, you can easily adjust this recipe to make half the batter, and bake it in three 6-inch pans.

How should I store leftover cake?

This cake will stay moist for days if stored in an airtight container or cake carrier.

How did you cover the cake in sugar?

For a sparkling sugar crust, combine 1/4 cup granulated sugar with 1/4 cup coarse white sparkling sugar or decorator’s sugar. After frosting the cake, and before the buttercream crusts over, scoop of handfuls of sugar and gently press it into the sides of the cake. Gather up what falls off and continue to sprinkle it over the cake until it’s covered.

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