28 May 2010

Recipe: Lavender Pound Cake


I love Philosophy products. They smell great and are economical (a 16 oz body wash/shampoo/bubble bath is $16 and lasts forever). I've had this scent in my shower for a couple years now and it's maybe half way gone. It's sweet without making my teeth hurt, and feminine yet not juvenile. Every time I use it, I stare at the recipe on the label (all the food related scents have one) and dream about the day when I might tackle baking. Well, no more!

The recipe calls for dried lavender blossoms, but I have no idea where you would find those. Maybe a fancy baking/sweet shop would have them and I'm sure you can order them online, but they are just not available at my local Whole Foods or Central Market. What I was delighted to find where the leaves and stems of the flower. They are not available year round. I would have thought autumn would be a better to find them, but whatever. I picked up a bundle and off I went. Below is the recipe as it appears on the bottle with my adjustments in green.

Lavender Pound Cake

2 c flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)

1/2 t baking powder

2 sticks butter, softened (I used Earth Balance margarine sticks. I prefer the soy free blend but it seems to only be available in tub form and I learned my lesson last time- super messy)

1 c sugar

1 1/4 t lavender blossoms, dried (I used about 3 t fresh leaves which I baked in the oven for a couple minutes then chopped)

4 eggs (next time I'm going totally vegan and using egg replacer or silken tofu)

1/2 t lemon zest

1/2 c milk (soy milk)

Preheat oven to 325 and lightly grease an 8x4x2 1/2 pan (basically a loaf pan. I used parchment paper because I saw Martha Stewart do it once and the cake comes right out)

Sift flour and baking powder, set aside.

Cream butter. Add lavender, sugar, and zest. Beat until light in colour and texture. Add eggs one at a time and mix well.

Add 1/2 flour and mix. Add milk. Fold in remaining flour. Pour into loaf pan.

Bake about 1 hour then cool on a wire rack.

To go with it, I made some simple icing:
1 c confectioners sugar slowly mixed into 2 T warm milk (soy milk). Drizzle over top and let cool.

It was so delicious! Watch out this holiday season because everyone is getting one!

Let me know how if turns out if you make it!

2 comments:

Chef Dennis Littley said...

that looks sooooo good.....could use a big hunk of that right now!

collin said...

Looks Nice. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

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