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This lavender cake is moist and tender, with a delightful and delicious lavender flavor in both the cake and the cream cheese icing.
Each slice is filled with tender layers of vanilla cake infused with a subtle lavender flavor. The tangy cream cheese buttercream has a hint of lavender, making this cake a great summertime dessert.
When I purchased my dried culinary lavender, I began thinking of scones with lavender, and adding it to shortbread cookies. But at the top of my list was a lavender cake.
This cake is a simple, two-layer cake that comes together easily and has a wonderfully fragrant flavor. The cake layers are moist and fluffy, with a hint of lavender that is complemented by hints of vanilla. I topped the cake with some fresh lavender to make it extra special.
? The Ingredients
Here is a list of the ingredients you will need for this recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card for all the details.
- Cake flour
- Sugar
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Butter
- Egg whites and a whole egg
- Whole milk
- Vanilla extract
- Lavender oil
- Dried, culinary lavender buds
Lavender Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Butter
- Cream cheese
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla extract and lavender oil
I am not the cake baker in the family, as that award goes to Dahn. But every now and then I will do my bit with a cake made from scratch. This particular recipe, tender white cake, is from the King Arthur Flour website with my adaptation of the lavender buds and lavender oil.
To bake this cake
When preparing this cake, I used a recipe that has a slightly different method of mixing. It uses a paste method (also known as a reverse creaming method) instead of the traditional creaming method.
Most recipes for butter cakes start out with creaming the butter and sugar which creates tiny air bubbles in the butter which will later expand in the oven and contribute to the rise of the cake. It also helps contribute to a light and fluffy texture.
Our recipe uses the paste/reverse creaming method. I first learned this method of baking from The Cake Bible. The paste method starts by mixing the flour with the butter.
This paste coats the flour particles with fat and minimizes gluten formation. It also minimizes the air particles that are formed while baking, which results in a finer crumb with a slightly denser but very velvety texture.
Here is a brief overview to get an idea of what to expect with this lavender cake recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card for all the details.
- Mix the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add the soft butter and mix until it resembles damp sand.
- Beat in the egg whites one at a time, then add the whole egg.
- Whisk the milk with the vanilla extract and the lavender oil. Add this mix ⅓ at a time, to the batter. Fold the crushed lavender buds into the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake.
I have to tell you, though, that using the lavender flavor was a total experiment as I had to determine how much lavender would be enough but not too much.
I have had lavender cookies where the lavender was so faint that I wondered why they bothered, but too much and it can be overpowering. So, it took a couple attempts for me to discover the amount of flavoring I wanted.
Using culinary lavender oil:
One word of caution, the lavender oil is very powerful and my first attempt I thought I was being pretty conservative…. it was a total failure. I was determined to get this right though and as the oil was not equipped with a dropper so I purchased one and finally got the amount of lavender correct. It is perfect!
I enjoyed this cake so much, I asked Dahn to use this recipe for the cake at my 50th anniversary party. She filled the cake layers with lemon curd and covered it with fondant. It was absolutely beautiful.
If you haven’t seen our anniversary cake yet, take a look. While you’re at it, you should check out the wine barrel cake she made for Don’s 80th birthday party or any of her other cake designs.
This cake makes me happy and I love the light floral flavor and the cream cheese icing has just enough lavender oil for a light flavoring and compliments the cake deliciously. It would be fun to get my lady friends together and do a little English Tea party with some fancy sandwiches, tea (like lavender tea) and serve this cake for dessert. Just thinking…:)
Tips for Success
To avoid any pesticides of commercially grown lavender, make certain you use culinary lavender with this recipe. Culinary lavender is meant for consumption and is the safest choice when used in baking and cooking. Lavender infused sugar is an easy way to incorporate it in your baking.
Use room temperature ingredients. Let the butter, milk, and eggs sit out for a while. If they are cold, the cake batter will not emulsify as well.
Make sure you scrape down the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl frequently.
Check out these recipes:
- Lavender Madeleine Tea Cakes
- Old-Fashioned Cream Cheese Pound Cake
- Einkorn Honey Almond Cake
- Chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting
- Brownies with cream cheese buttercream
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Lavender Cake with Lavender Cream Cheese Icing
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Ingredients
Lavender Cake
- 2-¾ cups cake flour, (300 grams)
- 1-⅔ cups sugar, superfine is best (330 grams)
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- ¾ cup butter, (12 tablespoons) softened and room temperature
- 4 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 whole large egg, room temperature
- 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 8-10 drops lavender oil, about ⅛ teaspoon (see Notes)
- 2 teaspoons culinary lavender buds, pulverized in a pestle or ground in a spice mill
Lavender Cream Cheese Icing:
- 1 cup of butter, 2 sticks, room temperature
- 16 oz of cream cheese, 2 packages, room temperature
- 5 – 6 cups of powdered sugar, (565 to 678 grams)
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 2-5 drops of culinary lavender oil, or to preferred taste-see Notes
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F
- Prepare two 9”x2” round pans by lining them with parchment paper and then spray the paper with non-stick spray.
- Mix the dry ingredients on slow speed for 2 minutes to blend. Add the soft butter and mix until evenly crumbly, it should resemble damp sand.
- Add the egg whites one at a time, then add the whole egg, beating well after each addition to begin building the structure of the cake. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with each egg addition.
- In a small bowl, whisk the milk with the vanilla and the lavender oil (see Notes). Add this mix ⅓ at a time, to the batter. Beat just until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Fold the crushed lavender buds into the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs stuck to the toothpick. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack.
For the Lavender Cream Cheese Icing:
- With an electric mixer, and using the paddle attachment, not the whisk, mix the butter and cream cheese together, about 3 minutes on medium speed until very smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
- Add the vanilla extract and mix. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Keep adding until you get to desired sweetness and thickness. With the mixer on the slow speed, carefully add one drop of the oil at a time and mix well. Taste for flavor and add more oil a drop at a time to get the desired taste.
- Spread icing on the cooled cake and refrigerate until serving.
Notes
- Lavender oil is super powerful and you will need to drop in a couple drops at a time, mix it well and then taste it to determine if you need more. I used 10 drops and was delighted with the results.
- If you do not have lavender oil you could substitute by heating the milk that is listed in the ingredients with 2 or 3 teaspoons of dried culinary lavender. Bring the milk to a boil, remove from the heat and let it steep until it is room temperature, then strain it through a sieve before adding to the cake batter.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
Tried to read all the comments and learned a lot. Going to try this recipe for a Memorial Weekend event. Have the small “mini” 24 cup pans. Read to bake at 350 degrees for 22 – 24 minutes for standard cupcakes. What’s your estimate time for the mini’s and do you think the cakes will set right that small? Thank you!
Bake the mini cupcakes for 12 to 15 minutes. This recipe works great for mini cupcakes. Thanks for the question.
I was excited to try the lavender cake and the flavors was terrific! The problem with my cake, however, was that it was very dense. With the delicacy of lavender I was expecting a lighter, more tender cake. I was sure to follow the recipe exactly, but am wondering what I may have done wrong to have. It end up this way….
Butter cakes are heavier and denser than a sponge cake like this one. However, if you found that it was as heavy and dense as a pound cake then it may be due to over-beating the batter. Another thing that can make the cake too heavy and dense is if the measurements are not correct. If you use a scale to measure the ingredients like the flour and sugar, you will be more accurate.
My husband and I celebrated our 31st anniversary in Provence, France last week and brought back bottles of both lavandin and culinary lavender. I searched for a lavender cake recipe and since I have always been intrigued by the reverse cream method but never had the chance to try, I decided to do this recipe. I like how it turned out but here are my comments: 1) I have a sweet tooth but this cake is over the top sweet even without the frosting. The 330g fine sugar was a giveaway but I wanted to try the recipe as is.
2) 8-10 drops turned out too strong for me. 6 would have been good.
3) I read that the reverse cream method diminishes doming of the cake but my 2 had pretty pronounced domes.
This is good though. I can use this to compare other lavender cake recipes.
Thanks for the comment Eve. This recipe has a standard ratio of flour to sugar for a butter cake. It is a time-tested formula that results in the correct texture and gives that sturdy, yet tender texture that butter cakes should have. You can use less lavender in the recipe, however the proportions for flour, butter, sugar, and eggs have very little room for adjustment without compromising the integrity, texture, and structure of the cake.
If you want a less sweet cake, you might want to try our white chocolate cake. The sugar in the white chocolate replaces some of the granulated sugar but the tang of the white chocolate off-sets the sweetness. If you want to reduce the dome on your cakes, try insulating the outside of the cake pans with cake strips. You can also use professional cake pans that are more insulated but the cake strips are more affordable and more effective.
Hi there, so this recipe looks incredible, but I only want to bake it for two. In order to avoid being wasteful, is it possible to half all the ingredients to just use one 9in pan? And if so, do you think half-ing the whole egg would work out okay? lol
Also, do you think it would be okay to use lavender syrup instead of lavender oil?
Thanks!
Absolutely. That will work just fine if you cut the recipe in half and only bake one 9-inch cake. What I do to cut a whole egg in half is whisk it first, weigh it and remove half. If you don’t have a scale then use a teaspoon to measure the volume. Lavender syrup would change the ratio of sugar in the cake batter, however you could drizzle lavender syrup over the top and bottom of the cake after it finishes baking and cools down. Since this isn’t a sponge cake, you can’t use too much or the cake will get soggy. I usually add 3 to 4 tablespoons of simple syrup on both sides of the cake layer.
There are different varieties of lavender. Some are more suited for culinary use, such as English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia). Others such as the French/Spanish Lavender here is more ornamental.
Thank you for the comment. We did mention that in the post above.
Hello!
I am planning to make a lemon blackberry cake with a lavender cream cheese frosting, and your frosting recipe looks perfect. Sadly, I’m having a hard time finding food grade lavender oil in my area, but I do have fresh lavender growing and i have culinary lavender in my local grocery store. Do you have any ideas on how I can incorporate lavender into the frosting in this case? Maybe I could put some lavender sprigs (maybe grind it with a mortar and pestle) into the butter and melt it down?
You would get flecks of lavender in the frosting if you incorporated the blossoms into the frosting but it should give you a lavender flavor. I don’t know how much you should use though so just start small and sprinkle it in as you go. I would expect that the flavor of the lavender will intensify if the buttercream sits for a couple of days with fresh lavender in it. With that in mind, you might want to under season it with lavender.
Hello ! I am so excited to try this lavender cake recipe ! I am wondering if I can use all purpose flour instead of cake flour?
thanks!
Yes, it will work with all-purpose flour but won’t be quite as light and soft. One thing you can do is make a substitute for cake flour … for every cup of all-purpose flour, remove 2 tablespoons of flour and replace that with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch…. that kind of works as a close substitute for cake flour.