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This lavender cake has a tender, buttery crumb with lavender baked into the layers and a little more in the cream cheese frosting. Vanilla rounds out the floral flavor, while the frosting adds a tangy contrast to the sweet cake. It’s a lovely choice when you want a layer cake with something a little different going on.
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.
A Delicate Lavender Flavor in Every Layer
Soft, tender cake: The cake batter uses cake flour, butter, milk, egg whites, and one whole egg for a fine crumb that stays tender under the icing.
Lavender without the bitterness: Culinary lavender oil gives the cake and icing a clear lavender flavor, while the crushed lavender buds add another layer of fragrance and texture.
Tangy cream cheese icing: Cream cheese adds enough tang to balance the powdered sugar and keeps the lavender flavor fresh instead of overly sweet.
Good for a special dessert: The cake can be baked in two round pans, iced as a simple layer cake, and refrigerated until you are ready to serve it.
Ingredient Notes
Culinary lavender oil: Use an oil specifically labeled for culinary use. Lavender oil is very concentrated, so add it a drop or two at a time, mix well, and taste before adding more.
Dried lavender buds: Grind the buds in a spice mill or crush them with a pestle so they blend into the batter instead of leaving large pieces throughout the cake.
Room-temperature ingredients: Bring the butter, egg whites, whole egg, and milk to room temperature so the batter mixes evenly and the cake bakes with a consistent texture.
Powdered sugar: Start with 5 cups for the icing and add more as needed until it reaches the sweetness and thickness you prefer.
Recipe Tips
Add the lavender oil slowly: It is easy to add more, but you cannot take it back out. Mix thoroughly and taste after each small addition, especially when making the icing.
Do not overbake the layers: Take the cakes out when a toothpick has just a few crumbs attached. A completely clean toothpick can mean the cake has baked a little too long.
Cool the cakes completely: Warm cake will soften the cream cheese icing and make the layers difficult to stack neatly.
Use the paddle attachment: The paddle mixes the butter and cream cheese smoothly without incorporating as much air as a whisk attachment.
Choose culinary lavender: Use dried lavender labeled for culinary use, since lavender sold for crafts or decoration may be treated with products that aren’t intended for food. For another way to use culinary lavender in your baking, try making lavender infused sugar.
For more lavender baking, try our lavender cupcakes for individual servings or lavender madeleines for a little something with your afternoon coffee. Our lavender cheesecake is another lovely option when you’re planning a celebration.
A Little Lavender for Your Next Celebration
You don’t need elaborate decorating skills to serve a pretty lavender cake. A simple swirl of cream cheese icing is plenty, whether you’re making it for a birthday, a shower, or an afternoon with friends. Leave time for a second slice.
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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 granulated sugar, superfine is best (330 grams)
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup butter, (12 tablespoons) softened and room temperature
- 4 egg whites, room temperature
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 8 to 10 drops culinary lavender oil, about ⅛ teaspoon (see Notes)
- 2 teaspoons dried culinary lavender buds, pulverized in a pestle or ground in a spice mill
Lavender Cream Cheese Icing:
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar, (452 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 drops culinary lavender oil, plus more to taste
- 16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
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 Frosting
- Add the butter and powdered sugar to a mixing bowl. Start the mixer on low speed, then increase to medium-high and beat until smooth, light, and creamy.
- Add the vanilla, salt, and 2 drops of culinary lavender oil. Mix well.
- Add the softened cream cheese and beat until smooth and combined, scraping the bowl as needed. Taste and, if desired, briefly mix in more lavender oil, one drop at a time.
- Spread the frosting between the cooled cake layers and over the top and sides. Refrigerate the cake until serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!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 is probably my favorite cake that I’ve made! When I told my boyfriend that I was going to make a lavender cake, he said it sounded terrible … but he liked it a little too much went back seconds every night until the cake was gone! I definitely will be using this recipe again. I’ve also been adding the culinary lavender and lavender buds to my pancakes and they’re so delicious!!
Oh, I am so happy to hear your experience with this cake! The pancakes sound delicious and I will have to give them a try, thanks for your input, I’m glad your boyfriend was so impressed with your great baking adventure!
Is it okay if I dont use actual lavender like the plant. I only have the oil and none of the stores near me sell culinary lavender.
Hi, Amy….That is a great question, thank you! I have never used only the lavender oil but if you cannot get the culinary dried lavender and decide to use just the oil, I would follow the amounts of oil listed in the recipe without adding any additional oil until you have tasted first to determine how strong the flavor is. Add drops in increments and taste with each addition to increase the flavor. We would love to hear how this works for you.
Can I make these into cupcakes?
yes, you can. Bake at 350 degrees for 22 to 24 minutes for standard-sized cupcakes.
Made this recipe and despite using the toothpick test for done-ness, when my layers cooled, they were gummy and flat. What did I do wrong?
It sounds like the gluten was over-developed. Beating the batter too fast and too long will develop gluten in the flour. The cake will be fully cooked but gummy in texture as if it is under-baked.
I absolutely love this cake and have made it for a lot of special occasions. Lately though, I’ve noticed that my batter is separating after I add the milk. It looks a little curdled and broken. I don’t want to over beat though. I know that there are some tricks to get batter emulsified properly. But maybe my butter is too soft to start with or something else? Any suggestions would be really appreciated. Thanks!
That ‘curdled’ look happens when the emulsion is broken. It usually happens if the ingredients are not at room temperature. Perhaps your milk is cold when you add it to the batter? If you start to add the milk and the batter breaks up you could warm the rest of the milk up a bit and add it slowly. The nice thing about this recipe is that with the reverse creaming method it is harder to over-beat the batter. Since you start out by adding the butter to the flour mixture, the flour gets coated in butter and the fat molecules protect the flour from developing gluten quite as fast. So with that in mind, you can get away with a bit more beating of the batter if the emulsion breaks.
Thanks for your question, I will modify the recipe card to make sure it specifies room temperature ingredients. I hope this helps with your next batch.
Hi hi. I literally just read every single comment. Why? Bc I am gonna try your recipe, which sounds amazing and looks delish. Someone asked me to make a lavender cake. I am pretty good at replicating recipes but also making them Mine by adjusting certain ingredients. Yours sounds absolutely perfect. Lavender buds? Check! Lavender oil? Check! Those two ingredients seem to make or break the recipe. With that being said, I am using LorAnne lavender oil. Will this make a difference? As far as intensity in oils. Another thing. if I decide to forego the oil, use two teaspoons of buds to flavor milk, will I still need to add two teaspoons of buds to the batter itself?
Thank you again for your recipe. Let the baking begin! I’ll keep you posted.
Hi Rachel, thanks for the comment. It looks like the LorAnne oil is food grade but I don’t know if it is more concentrated. I would start with less and slowly add more as you taste test. If you use the buds to infuse the milk then you shouldn’t need to add more to the batter Too much lavender in the batter will make it taste a bit like soap so taste test as you go. We would love to hear your results.
Hi again. I can’t thank you enough for this recipe. Excellent. Soft moist and a great balance of lavendar flavor. I played around with the lavender buds and oil for 3 days straight. I got it right the first try with your recipe, which I accidentally used more butter than recipe called for. Absolutely perfect. Then I wanted to see how it can be played into my vanilla recipe which uses cake flour and AP flour. I tried it 2 other different ways. I think my guiness pigs, ahem, I meant taste testers are gonna quit. They won’t. Free desserts? Who could pass that up? Sorry getting off topic. Anywho…i kinda moved ingredients around and settled on this variation. I used 1.5 tsps of lavendar buds to infuse the milk. The remaining half tsp of buds I grounded into a rough powder form and folded that and 4 drops of oil (using a pipette) into the batter. I was the jackpot! With that being said I used your version for the top tier and my version butter than recipe called for) for the bottom tier. Client loved it. So now I have 2 tried and tested versions of lavender cake under my belt. Thanks a million again.
I’m so glad it turned out Rachel. It sounds like you had a great time with the recipe and I bet your taste testers did as well 🙂
Hello,
I accidentally purchased lavender extract instead of the oil…can this still be used the same in this recipe or would you recommend looking for the oil instead?
Hi, Heather….yes, you can use the extract. I have also used the lavender extract from Olive Nation which is for culinary use. I would suggest starting with a small amount and taste as you go. Thanks for reaching out to us, this is a great cake recipe!
I have never been accused of being subtle. That being said, this cake was delicious! I thought I’d gone light on the lavender with 2 teaspoons of the ground leaf and 6 drops of the lavender oil. I didn’t think the taste of the finished product was overwhelming but my husband said it was “different” which means heavy handed in spouse speak. Still, I want to take another run at this using more of the lavender oil and not put it in the CC frosting. Not having experience with the reverse cream method I didn’t know what to expect and think I let it cook too long as it was a bit on the dry side and didn’t get as much rise as I would have liked to have seen. Thank you for this recipe. It really is a winner and too much fun not to try. To give myself some perspective on the taste of lavender I did make some lavender cookies at the same time as the cake. The cookies did seem a bit on the strong side. The cake was too light, the cookies too strong and the third try will be just right! If not, I’ll have to just wander aimlessly through the woods tasting porridge’s from bear caves and such. 🙂
Hi, Jo Ann…I love your narrative and happy that you took the time to respond and comment on our cake recipe. Yes, lavender is a unique flavor and one that I personally love. I too, had to experiment to get it ‘just right’ for my taste buds. Keep going, girl…you’ve got this! ♥️
Hello!
I just wanted to chip in and say that this post is amazing. When I saw it, I immediate fell in love; the crumbs looked so fine and the cake so beautiful! So ofc I had to try it. I made it for a friend last week with a few variations. Firstly, I didn’t want to purchase lavender oil, so I heated the one cup of milk (which the recipe calls for) and added 3tsp of culinary dried lavender to it. I brought it to a boil and let it steep until it was room temperature and made sure to sieve it before adding to the final cake. I also paired this cake with a traditional vanilla flavored cream cheese frosting, because I felt the lavender in the cake was strong enough.
Although I felt the 3tsp of dried lavender were slightly too much, everyone else loved it. I might try this cake again but with 2.5tsp for a lighter flavor. Additionally, I felt like this recipe was slighttttyyyyy on the dry side. Still have to experiment with a bit more to see where it goes!
Thanks for this recipe!!
Hi, Amrah! Thanks for chipping in here we are so happy that you like this lavender cake recipe. I love your idea of steeping the lavender leaves in the milk as a sub for the lavender oil. I have included your tip in our recipe notes. Lavender has a wonderfully unique flavor that is subject to our individual tastes and a little bit goes a long way. With regard to the cake being a bit on the dry side I have noted a typo in our baking times which read 25-35 minutes and corrected that to 25-30 minutes. Too much bake time will result in a dry cake. When you bake the cake again, try checking for doneness when it has baked for 27 minutes. There should be a few crumbs on the cake tester when it is done. Thanks again for your comments. 🙂
I won a blue ribbon for your cake at my town fair
Congratulation to you, Brenna! I love it that you won! 🙂
I won a blue ribbon for your cake
Woohoo! You did good, Brenna I am soooo happy for you! Thanks for the feedback, I will toast a glass of wine to you! 🙂