Lavender Lemon Cake with Honey Glaze
Cheri Clotiaux Stringer (originally from Williams-Sonoma catalog)
Yield: 16 servings
3 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
16 Tbsp (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 Tbsp dried lavender flowers
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp pure lemon extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plain yogurt
1 Tbsp finely grated lemon zest
2 Tbsp honey
1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar plus more for dusting
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Yield: 16 servings
This recipe was in a Williams-Sonoma catalog on the same page as an amazingly beautiful bundt pan. I liked the recipe so much I ordered the cake pan! I used the pan to bake the Amaretto cake that I brought to the Clotiaux WOW 2009 — the design of the pan makes it easy to cut the cake into 16 identical pieces. (Aug 2000)
3 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
16 Tbsp (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 Tbsp dried lavender flowers
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp pure lemon extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plain yogurt
1 Tbsp finely grated lemon zest
2 Tbsp honey
1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar plus more for dusting
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Have all ingredients at room temperature. Position rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 325˚F.
Butter and flour a fleur-de-lis cake pan (available from Williams-Sonoma); tap out excess flour. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter on medium speed until creamy and smooth, about 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar and lavender and beat until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes; stop mixer and scrape bowl occasionally.
Add eggs, a little at a time, beating well after each addition; add lemon and vanilla extracts. On very low speed, add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with yogurt and ending with flour; blend each addition until just incorporated.
Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl occasionally. Fold in lemon zest. Spoon batter into pan and spread batter so the outside edge is about 1-inch higher than the inside edge.
Bake until cake springs back when touched and pulls away from sides of pan, 55-60 min. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely in pan, 1-2 hours.
Turn cake out onto a wire rack set over waxed paper.
Glaze: In a small saucepan over low heat, warm honey until runny, 30-45 seconds. Put 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar in a small bowl and pour honey and lemon juice over sugar; stir to blend. Using a pastry brush, brush cake with glaze and let stand at room temperature until ready to serve.
Dust with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.