This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
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
Pin this now to find it later!
Pin It
Lavender Cake with Lavender Cream Cheese Icing
If you make this recipe, please leave a star rating and comment.
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!
instead of cream cheese frosting can it be butter cream thank you i am makeing this for my town fair this week
Hi, Brenna….Oh, yes! Butter Cream frosting sounds lovely. Have fun at the town fair and thanks for your question and comments. 🙂
instead of cream cheese frosting can it be butter cream thank you i am makeing this for my town fair this week
thank you i hope i get a blue ribbon and the beats in show ribbon
Wow, Brenna….I also hope you get the blue ribbon. Yes, the butter cream frosting will be delicious. Make your favorite recipe for butter cream and with the mixer on the slow speed, carefully add one drop of the lavender oil at a time and mix well. Taste for flavor and add more oil a drop at a time to get the desired taste.
thank you i hope i will get a blue ribbon and the beats in show ribbon too
You are welcome, Brenna and good luck in the fair 🙂
I do not have paddle on my Oster. I do have a spiral attatchment…..will that do? Also, I am assuming that the butter is unsalted, right? Thank you! I am making this cake to start a new tradition for my daughter and SOL’s anniversary! So excited to surprise her!
Hi Cheri, I’m not real sure what your spiral attachment looks like but it sounds like it might be a dough hook. If that is the case, the dough hook will not work. Just use the regular beater attachment. You could even use a hand mixer on a medium speed. A whisk attachment will add too much air into the icing causing air bubbles. As for the butter, unsalted is the best choice but if you only have salted butter it will work just fine as well and won’t make the cake too salty. I have made the cake both ways and the minimal amount of salt in salted butter does not affect the cake.
Hello, if I were to use rose oil instead of lavender do you think I should use about the same amount? I’m planning on tasting it as I add more but I was just wondering if you or anyone you know of had tried using rose oil. Thank you 🙂 lovely cake.
Hi, Haley…this sounds wonderful! I have not used rose oil but in our Vanilla, Rose and Pistachio Cake I used rose water which you should be able to find in the baking section near the vanilla flavor extracts. I do not know it the measurement of rose oil vs. rose water will be the same. The taste-as-you-go is my best advice. The vanilla, rose and pistachio cake was lovely, moist and delicious with a delicate rose flavor. I would love your feedback, thanks and enjoy! 🙂
Pat, this cake was absolutely wonderful!! I decided to use rose water instead of rose oil after all and I loved the outcome. This was one of the best cakes I’ve ever had, and definitely the best one I’ve ever made. 🙂 I used the recipe to make a lovely rose cream cheese icing and my friends and family loved it. Thank you for sharing this!
Hi, Haley: I am so happy this worked out for you! I love both the lavender flavor and the rose flavor. Thanks also for you feedback on this. 🙂
Pat, I was so glad to see someone actually make a Lavender cake and Frosting that I could look at! My daughter’s getting married next weekend and I have to start making 3 kinds of cupcakes and a 6″ top cake soon. She wants Lavender cupcakes as one of her choices and I’ve experimented with Duncan Hines White cake and using milk instead of water, an extra egg white, 1/4 cup sour cream, and a few drops of lavender extract, I think that it works well for the cupcakes. I may try your recipe for the 6″ cake on top tier of cupcake tree. But my American Buttercream frosting (with lavender, mint or just vanilla) is giving me anxiety. It’s going to be like 95 degrees here in Louisville, Kentucky next week and humid (if not raining) so I can’t use just butter. I’ve tried using the butter with some Hi-Ratio shortening and Meringue powder with the Confectioner’s sugar and maybe that will work, but it’s too sweet. So I’ve read about adding some salt, and someone else said adding cream cheese helps make it less sweet. So, I’m asking if your frosting with the cream cheese takes some of the cloying sweetness away from the American Buttercream (with it’s powdered sugar). Could I substitute 1/2 cup of butter with shortening in Your Icing to help the heat? And would it work with a little less sugar added – maybe 1/2 cup white chocolate instant pudding mix added in? to make it less sweet? Do you have any thoughts or suggestions for me? I’m 67 years old and getting an mild anxiety attack about frosting 100 cupcakes!
Lillian, I have made all-butter buttercreams as well as cream cheese frostings for wedding cakes in the summer. I am always careful to make sure the cake stays in the shade. With that said, 95 degree weather here in Washington state is much different than 95 degree weather in Kentucky. I don’t know how this frosting would stand up in your humidity, and honestly, if you have not tested it out in advance I would not take the chance on a wedding. I have done enough weddings to know how stressful it can be if things are not perfect. With only one week away, I would recommend you go with a “sure thing” and use a crisco based buttercream. Yes, it will be cloyingly sweet but it would look good in the pictures. Even if you cut in a little butter or cream cheese, it will still be way too sweet and the butter and cream cheese will make it less stable in the high humidity. Flavor matters a lot, but as far as a wedding is concerned, avoiding a cake disaster would take higher priority.
Another option would be to use a non-dairy whipped frosting like the ones that commercial bakeries use. One like Rich’s Bettercream is available to the public if you have a restaurant supply store near you. You could also go to your local grocery store and ask their bakery if you can buy some of theirs. Good luck, and congratulations on your daughter’s wedding.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my question, and for the good wishes! There’s a baking supply store here that I can ask first – if they don’t have Rich’s I can ask the bakeries near here. But actually, I’ve seen a couple of recipes that add non-dairy whipped mix into a shortening based frosting. I was going to experiment Monday and Tuesday with the frostings to see if I can get a good result. It is going to be hot and humid all this week so I can experiment before I have to buy a frosting from a bakery. And another way around is to keep the cupcake tree with 6″ cake top inside the grooms dad’s house in air conditioning and not out in the heat. Anyway, you’ve given me a couple of good options to consider – thank you!
Hello
I want to ask please,
Is it necessary to use only the kind of lavender oil you mentioned?
I have Oil Now Foods, Essential Oils, Lavender
Does that work?
Shadia,you should check with the company to see if it is approved for culinary use.
It’s like all positive reviews. Previously I made this with the 3/4 c butter and it almost broke my new hand mixer, But that review was never posted. I did say it was a good recipe but the instructions were wrong cause the bake time is listed 25-28 min whit is def not enough. I would suggest at least 40. Ur butter problem might be the problem I had. Its funny U only list 5 star reviews. I made this for my mom’s birthday and made it a light lavender color, but it was quite heavy. like I said I like the recipe list but less butter might solve the weight problem since I did make a 4 tier cake. If u get this let me know and I will send u some pics. It did look amazing but I did use a Russian frosting vs urs. Ur bake time and butter problem actually make this a 3 star, but curious if this will post
Hello, Erica….Thank you for your opinion, we are sorry that this recipe did not work for you. We have baked this cake numerous times and have not damaged our mixer, nor have we experienced the issues that you describe. The bake time is for 9-inch pans and if you use smaller pans then the bake time should be adjusted. We have amended the recipe card to indicate a 25-35 bake time.
Home ovens can vary in temperature and should be calibrated occasionally to check for accurate temperature. The best way to determine bake time for your individual oven is with the toothpick test. Over mixing the batter will definitely result in a heavy texture and baking for too long of a time period will result in a dry cake. The same recipe is listed in our Christmas Cranberry Cake. We do have a video included with the Lavender cake that may be helpful to you should you decide to try again.
With regard to your previous comments, we appreciate hearing from our viewers and do try to answer all of comments, even the negative comments. We are also open to constructive criticism. However, we do reserve the right to not publish any comments with offensive/profanity language in them.
I used 9 in. pans. I have a temp gauge on the shelf I bake so it is running at the listed bake temp. I did not over bake it. I did leave it the previous 28 min, toothpick, still wet in middle, gave another 5 min, still not done, then another five. Having to keep re-opening, pulling bake shelf out to do toothpick and assess constantly lets cold air in and causes edges to brown more than necessary. And the excess butter previously listed made me think the texture was going to be a bit dense/doughy.. It was very dense and heavy and not at all sponge-like which I prefer but at least it was cooked.
As for your bolded text, I used no offensive language, just gave it 2 stars. Maybe ur only happy publishing 5 stars, but other rating help people who plan to bake. The reality is people like me who are actually looking to bake/bakers, go through the reviews to hear from bakers who actually attempted the recipe. Their feedback is so helpful. In actuality, a lot of reviews are just people who saw ur recipe and pics and liked it, which is cook but they don’t test it out.
And my mom’s b-day cake was delicious, email me if u want picks. Made it a 4 tier with honey alternate layers with a light Russian inspired honey frosting
Erica…I am happy that your mom’s b-day cake turned out well for you.
…emphasis on the 2 star
Thank you, Erica
Hi! It says 3/4c butter but then it also says 12 tbsp… doyou know which is correct? They’re 2 different amounts.
Thanks!
Never mind! I was thinking 1/3!
I saw this after answering your other question, glad you got it figured out. Thanks for stopping by
Hi Kelley, 3/4 butter is equal to 12 tablespoons of butter.
This looks yum. I want to make it this weekend! Coincidentally, I just made my own lavender extract (aged 2 months), thanks to instructions from Google. 🙂 Any idea how to convert the measurements for lavender oil to lavender extract?
Hello, Aliza….I have never tried the lavender extract but my best advice would be to add and taste until you achieve the flavor you want. I bet making your own extract was a fun project. Please let us know how much you used and how the cake turned out. 🙂
This may sound weird, but out of the blue I had a dream that Duncan Hines had lavender cake mix and lavender frosting. I didn’t even know this was a thing! So, after looking up recipes and finding yours, I just have to make this cake!
I do have a question! Would King Arthur’s lavender flavor work in place of lavender oil? I don’t know if it’s extract or an oil to be honest. Their website doesn’t list ingredients.
crazy dream, lavender must be on your mind :). I’m not sure how the King Arthur lavender flavor would compare to the lavender oil but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work, you probably just need to play with the amount if their flavoring is less concentrated than the lavender oil. If you try it I hope you come back and let us know how it works.
This is so beautiful! What a great way to make a white cake really special. Perfect for a summer shower!
Thanks, Michelle….and the taste is divine!