Lavender layer cake

Happy April everyone! With spring upon us (the passing of time never fails to surprise me, I tell you), a refreshing, lightly-flavored cake such as this one seems appropriate.

Because I still have a giant bag of dried culinary lavender, purchased from good ol’ Amazon.com, I thought I would make a cake, for no reason, as a way of using up the stuff as well as satisfying my craving for cake. Both the cake and the frosting in this concoction are infused with plenty of lavender to give it a strong scent and flavor. I even sprinkled a bit extra on top for decoration and color. Of course, you’re not going to actually eat the straight-up dried lavender. That would be a little weird.

It's not like I know from experience, or anything.

As far as layer cakes go, this one is fairly simple. Just a classic cake-and-frosting combo, nothing too outré or daring. And sometimes that’s just what you need.

Clearly, three layer cake with buttercream infused with French herbs = simple.

Here is the recipe.

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Lavender layer cake

Adapted from Decorated by April Carter

Ingredients

Cake

184 grams • nondairy milk • ¾ cup

2 grams • dried culinary lavender • 1 tablespoons

21 grams • flaxseed meal • 3 tablespoons

135 grams • warm water • ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon

184 grams • vegan margarine, room temperature • 6.5 ounces

340 grams • granulated sugar • 1 ½ cups plus 3 tablespoons

272 grams • all-purpose flour • 2 cups

6 grams • baking powder • 1 ½ teaspoons

Pinch salt

Frosting

168 grams • vegan margarine, room temperature • ¾ cup

2 grams • dried culinary lavender • 1 tablespoon

240 grams • powdered sugar • 2 cups

45 grams • nondairy milk • 3 tablespoons

2 grams • salt • ¼ teaspoon

2 grams • vanilla extract • ½ teaspoon

Directions

Place milk and lavender in a small saucepan. Heat until the milk just boils, then remove from heat and let steep for 3 minutes. Strain out the lavender and discard. Let milk cool completely before proceeding.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease three 6-inch round baking pans and line the bottoms with parchment. Set aside.

Combine flaxseed and water in a small bowl. Let stand until thick.

Place vegan margarine and sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. With mixer on low speed, add flaxseed mixture and beat until combined. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with lavender-steeped milk and ending with flour. Do not over-mix.

Divide batter evenly between three pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make frosting, start by melting margarine and lavender together in a small saucepan. Heat until the margarine is hot and bubbling a little. Steep for 3 minutes, then strain out the lavender. Let the margarine cool until solid, but soft enough to beat into frosting.

Beat infused margarine in a stand mixer until smooth. With mixer on low speed, spoon in powdered sugar; increase speed to beat until combined. Add remaining ingredients and beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.

To finish, frost the entire cake with lavender frosting. Decorate with more dried lavender if desired.

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