Recipes, Photography, Musings

Berry Cake With Lavender Sugar

Make a weekend breakfast special with this lovely berry breakfast cake.  It’s full of fresh blueberries and black raspberries, and it’s  sweetened with the subtle flavor of homemade lavender sugar–a taste of summer in every bite!

lavender on railingThe lavender in our garden is thriving. I’m kind of surprised, considering how hot and dry this past month has been, but I am happy to see it.  It is gorgeous and it smells so good! I’ve been wanting to use it in some way, and then recently I came across a post by Laurie, of the blog ten.times.tea, for lilac sugar. The lilac sugar sounded so good and looked so pretty, it made me want to try lavender sugar.  I found that there is lots of information out there about making your own lavender sugar.  What a fun and simple way to use lavender, and what a subtle flavor the lavender gives the sugar. You can use lavender sugar to sweeten tea or flavor lemonade, and you can use it in baking.

berry breakfast cake with pink linenAt the same time that I have been wanting to use my lavender, I have been wanting to bake with fresh berries–the blueberries that are in season now, and the black raspberries growing wild all over my yard.  So I made this lovely berry breakfast cake, sweetened with my own homemade lavender sugar. It is so delicious and festive for a summer breakfast! The breakfast cake recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks, Hollyhocks & Radishes by Bonnie Stewart Mickelson.  The only thing I changed was that I used a combination of blueberries and black raspberries, and I used lavender sugar instead of traditional white sugar, and butter from grass-fed cows instead of vegetable shortening.  I am very happy with the result! The lavender sugar is not essential in this recipe–if you don’t have extra time, conventional sugar can be used just fine, and any kind of fresh berries would work.

berry breakfast cake on table 2The Hollyhocks & Radishes cookbook is such a gentle reminder of the beauty in using the food growing around us, and also the simple elegance of hospitality.  Such a simple gesture as making a cake or a salad or a plate of sandwiches for others can be so satisfying to both the giver and the receivers.  We have had the opportunity to extend some old-fashioned hospitality to a variety of people this past week, and it has been so much fun to get together with old friends who now live far away, and to have friends of our kids in our house and around our table.

berry breakfast cake in hands 3Life can get very fast-paced and over-scheduled these days, and it’s so nice to slow down sometimes to cook and bake, to pick lavender and make lavender sugar, or spend the whole afternoon at a nearby lake.  To eat breakfast on the porch or a picnic dinner at a park, and let the dinner and conversation last till dark.  Sometimes it takes guests and hospitality to make us slow down, and what would we do without it.  We need to do more of it.

berry breakfast cake with vaseI hope you all have a great weekend! It is mid-summer, and feels every bit of it to me. I look forward to checking out some new recipes at Angie’s Fiesta Friday this week! If you are ever in a food rut, that is a great place to go to check out some really interesting blogs.berry breakfast cake overheadlavender sugar overheadlavender sugar on porchberry breakfast cake on porch

Berry Breakfast Cake with Lavender Sugar

  • Servings: 8-10
  • Print

for the lavender sugar:

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons of lavender buds
  • 1 cup of granulated sugar

Directions:

Pick a handful of lavender.  Remove the blossoms and buds from the stems and measure out 2 tablespoons. **If you wash the lavender, or if it is damp when you pick it, make sure it is completely dry before you combine it with the sugar.  (If you don’t have access to lavender in your garden, you can buy culinary lavender buds at health food stores or specialty food places.)

Place the lavender buds and the cup of sugar in a food processor (I used a blender).  Pulse or blend for a couple of minutes, stirring in between pulses, till the sugar and lavender are well mixed and the lavender is broken down a bit.

Spoon the lavender/sugar mixture into a clean, dry glass jar with a tight-fitting lid.  Let the mixture sit, covered, for a day or at least overnight.  Double or triple the recipe if you want to make more lavender sugar.  Use this delightful sugar to sweeten tea or lemonade, or use it in baking. Enjoy!

For the berry breakfast cake:

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup lavender sugar (you can use regular white granulated sugar if you prefer)
  • 2 eggs, separated
  • 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, soft and at room temperature
  • 1 and 1/2 cups of all-purpose, unbleached flour
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  • 1/3 cup of milk
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla
  • 2 cups of fresh berries (I used a combination of blueberries and black raspberries)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Lightly grease a 9 x 9 inch baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the lavender sugar, egg yolks, and butter until creamy.  In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.  With a wooden spoon, stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture.  Add the unbeaten egg whites and stir until well mixed.  Add the milk and vanilla and stir to mix again.  Fold in the berries.  If you are using blueberries, gently stir in a bit of flour to the blueberries before folding them into the batter, so they won’t sink to the bottom.  Gently stir until the berries are combined with the batter.  Spoon the batter into the baking pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the cake is golden and the center springs back to the light touch.  Serve warm. Enjoy!

 

 

26 Comments

  1. Amanda | What's Cooking

    This is so beautiful. I totally agree about taking the time to stop, bake and interact on a real level. Great photos. I love fresh lavender so much!!! What a great use of it here.

    • Jenny

      Thank you, Amanda. I love lavender so much too. It’s so much fun to find different uses for it. 🙂 Hope you have a great weekend! 🙂

  2. apuginthekitchen

    Beautiful cake and LOVE the lavender sugar!!

    • Jenny

      Thank you, Suzanne! I just discovered making lavender sugar (though others have been doing it for a long time 🙂 ), and I can imagine so many ways to use it! Such a great herb.

  3. CakePants

    What a wholesome and beautiful cake! My parents recently moved and they have a TON of lavender in their new front yard. I’ll have to pass this recipe along to them!

    • Jenny

      Thank you, Mara! Yes, this is a very easy and delicious way to use both lavender and berries. Hope you are enjoying your summer!

  4. tentimestea

    I just love the sound of this berry cake Jenny–what a wonderful use for a fragrant sugar! It is such a beautiful cake dotted with purple and red…I read about black raspberries on Hilda’s blog as well and I am so intrigued.
    And of course, your lavender plant is such a beauty! It’s a lucky year if our plant sprouts some flowers by the end of the summer.
    Have a good weekend! 🙂

    • Jenny

      Thank you, Laurie! Thanks for the inspiration for the fragrant sugars! There is something so pretty and lovely about using flowers and sugar together, such a subtle flavoring. The black raspberries are really great–they taste a little different than the red, and they turn that pretty shade of red when baked. Hope you have a great weekend too. 🙂

  5. cookingwithauntjuju.com

    Your lavender is doing so well because it loves hot and dry weather! Last week’s post was all about bees and how they loved my lavender flowers. Lavender is such a fun flower to use in savory and sweet recipes 🙂

    • Jenny

      Thank you, Judy! You are so right about the bees loving the lavender! They were buzzing around me like crazy when I was picking it. I’m glad to help out the bees. 🙂 Hope you are having a great weekend! 🙂

  6. Sheryl

    mmm. . . This looks perfect for a hot summer day. The combination of the berries and the lavender sounds wonderful.

    • Jenny

      Thank you,Sheryl–it is a great combination! Hope you are having a great weekend!

  7. michelleoblogoff

    I love your blog! Really beautiful photography! I have never cooked with lavender but you make me want to!
    Thanks!
    Michelle

    • Jenny

      Thank you, Michelle, I am glad I came across your blog through Fiesta Friday! I really enjoy yours as well. 🙂 I look forward to checking out more of your posts!

  8. Julie is Hostess At Heart

    What a beautiful cake and the lavender sugar sounds delicious. It would made a great glass of tea too!

    • Jenny

      Thanks, Julie! Yes, I am looking forward to trying it in tea!

  9. Lily

    You had me at lavender sugar – love it! Pinned for later:)

    • Jenny

      Thanks, Lily–the lavender sugar is really pretty and easy to make. 🙂

  10. Hilda

    I have some of my own lavender sugar from my lavender patch, and some wild berries in the garden. This recipe is just perfect. Thanks for sharing.

    • Jenny

      Thanks Hilda! I just love the lavender sugar. Our black raspberries are about done now. They were great while they lasted!

  11. Suchitra

    This is an absolutely delicious looking Berry cake! I love that you can make your own lavender sugar. Wish I could taste it!

    • Jenny

      Thank you, Suchitra! I wish you could have a taste too! 🙂

  12. FrugalHausfrau

    What a lovely recipe and I like the lavender idea! But it’s also a reminder to me to remember to use other flavored sugars, too, to up the flavor. It’s so easy to drop in a used vanilla been or orange peel…

    Mollie

    • Jenny

      Thank you, Mollie! It was easier than I realized to make the lavender sugar, and so much fun. I would like to experiment with other flavored sugars too. 🙂

  13. Katie's Time Travelling Kitchen

    This looks amazing and I love the idea of lavender sugar! 🙂

    • Jenny

      Thank you so much, Katie! It is really easy to make, and it smells so good!

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