Lavender Honey Cake
Lavender Honey Cake
On a recent trip I had a Lavender and Honey ice cream cone that got me thinking how good this flavour combo would be in a cake! Because I’m always always thinking of cake. Seriously though…a warm vanilla cake with soft flavours of lavender and honey…not too much, just enough to lightly taste them. Yum. So I made it, and yes, it is as delicious as it sounds.
Lavender is lovely in desserts!
To get the beautiful lavender flavour into the cake, I did what the ice cream shop does which is to steep fresh lavender flowers in cold cream for a few hours. Luckily I have a beautiful pot of lavender growing in my garden so I was able to clip some fresh flowers for my cake. To get the most lavender flavour possible, it’s best to steep the flowers in the milk overnight, but if you’re pressed for time, you can try a minimum of 2 hours. Just taste the milk and see if you like the strength of the lavender flavour.
How to Steep Fresh Lavender in Cold Cream
To release the full potential of the lavender flavour, remove the lavender flowers from the stems and chop them up into small pieces (I originally left the stems on and turned them upside down into the cream, but it’s better to remove the flowers and chop them up). Then place the jar into the fridge to rest overnight (or for at least 2 hours). The result is a delicious and light lavender flavoured cream ready to be turned into cake! I bet this cream would be delicious in tea too…oh well for another day I guess!
Want more lavender flavour?
I also wanted small pieces of lavender scattered throughout my baked cake, so I set aside a tablespoon of just the chopped flowers to add the the batter, that way you can have a little lavender in every bite.
Vanilla Cake + Lavender = AMAZING!
For the cake base I used my go-to vanilla Bundt cake recipe that I use for almost all of my flavoured cakes, like my Strawberry Rhubarb, Earl Grey, and Peach bundt cakes. It’s such a great base, and a perfect match with lavender. And what’s not to love about Bundt cakes?! They’re so pretty…I love the soft edging, and how beautiful the cakes are even without frosting.
I really love how this cake turned out. Not only does it look beautiful, but it’s sweet, tender and perfectly lightly lavender flavoured…it is a delicious summer dessert.
And I love all the little lavender flower flecks scattered throughout the cake…they’re perfect. Here’s the recipe for you, I hope you enjoy it!
Lavender Honey Cake Recipe Tips
- LAVENDER: Use the flowers of fresh lavender. Wash well and chop up.
- HONEY: Use liquid honey or soft honey.
- CREAM: Use half + half cream.
- YOGURT: For this cake I use plain Greek yogurt. You can also use sour cream or a 6% Balkan style yogurt instead.
- TOPPING: When the cake is cooled and turned out onto a serving plate, dust it lightly with powdered sugar if you like.
- BUNDT PAN SIZE: For this cake I use a 10-12 cup size pan.
- PREPARING THE PAN: Make sure to prepare the Bundt pan before baking. Do this by greasing and flouring the inside. I like to use a flour/oil spray (Pam has a really good one) to prepare all of my Bundt pans.
- REMOVING THE CAKE FROM THE PAN: Once the cake has cooled, place a serving plate over the top of the cake pan, then holding the plate tightly to the pan, invert the cake over and the cake should slide out onto the plate. Gently remove the pan.
- FREEZING: This cake freezes well. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and put into a large ziplock bag and into your freezer. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Lavender Honey Cake
Ingredients
Lavender Cream:
- 1 small bunch of fresh lavender flowers (about 15-20 stems) remove the flowers from the stems
- 1/4 cup cream (half & half)
Cake Base:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 cup plain yogurt
- 1 tbsp extra lavender flowers (optional)
- powdered sugar for garnish
Instructions
Steeping the lavender flowers:
- Remove the lavender flowers from the stems and chop them up into small pieces. Place the chopped flowers into 1/4 cup of cream, then place in the fridge to rest for at least 2 hours, but overnight is best.1 small bunch of fresh lavender flowers (about 15-20 stems), 1/4 cup cream
Making the cake:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Prepare a 10-cup Bundt pan by spraying the inside of the pan with a baking spray containing flour (you can find this spray in the baking aisle at your grocery store) or grease then dust with flour. This step is so important if you want your cake to slide out of the pan. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer cream together the butter, honey and sugar.1/2 cup butter, 1 cup granulated sugar, 2 tbsp honey
- Add the eggs, mixing them in one at a time.2 large eggs
- Then add vanilla and mix well.1 tsp vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, and baking powder.2 cups all purpose flour, 4 tsp baking powder
- Remove the lavender flowers from the cream, then mix the cream with the yogurt.3/4 cup plain yogurt
- Chop up the lavender flowers to add to the batter (not the stems!).
- To the butter mixture add 1/3 of the flour mix, then 1/2 of the cream/yogurt mix. Repeat until all combined.
- Stir in the chopped lavender flowers.1 tbsp extra lavender flowers
- Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Once the cake has baked let it cool for about 10 minutes in the pan, then turn the cake out onto a plate, and sprinkle with powdered sugar for garnish.
Notes
More Bundt Cake Recipes
So many beautiful and delicious Bundt cakes to try!
Have a delicious day!
Your Lavender Honey cake sounds amazing, can’t wait to try it out! How much honey do you add to the recipe and when do you add it in (I couldn’t seem to find it on the recipe you posted).
Thanks!
Haha I can’t believe I left it out!! I’ve updated the recipe now! Thank you Nadine!
I’ve never tried anything with lavender (besides tea), but this looks amazing!
So happy to see you back! I’ve missed your posts. 🙂
Thank you Melissa! It feels good to be back!
YUM! When are you having us all over for lavender and honey cake? 😉
Come on over! 😉
This looks absolutely amazing!!!
Thank you Kristi!
This looks amazing!! How would I adjust this for dried baking lavender?
Thank you and can’t wait to try this!
I would love to know if this is an option as well. I’m sad there was no response
Sorry you are sad! 🙂 I haven’t tried it with dried lavender so I’m not sure. I would definitely try it though…I would start off with the same amount I would use to make tea, so about 1 tbsp of dried lavender and steep it in the milk. From there, after some time (maybe 10-15 minutes), just taste it and if you wish, add more if it needs to be stronger.
Hi Jo-Anna, this cake sounds delicious! Do you think I could substitute more honey for half of the sugar , and would this recipe work with mini bundt pans ?
Hi Orly! I’m not sure about substituting more honey…I’ve never tried it that way, and I would be a bit concerned that it might make the cake too sticky and may not rise properly. I do think it would work with mini bundt pans, you would just have to reduce the baking time to be consistent with other cakes you may have made in the small pans.
The cake turned out delicious! I followed all your instructions but used 2 t. dried lavender and I thought it tasted like the right amount. Instead of a bundt pan, I used two round cake pans, and sprinkled a few dried lavender on my frosting. If I had to do it again, I’d probably add blueberries (or make them into preserves) between the top & bottom layer.
This was amazing, it tasted lovely and soft and would 11/10 make it again. I used dried lavender (roughly the same amount as recipe) and added some homemade lavender extract since I wasn’t able to wait overnight and it turned out beautifully. Was a huge crowd pleaser at the event I was at.