LAVENDER - FROM FIELDS TO TABLE - Part 4 - Lavender Walnut Cake

LAVENDER – FROM FIELDS TO TABLE

Part 4

Lavender Walnut Cake

Remember our friend Kyle who’s working on a second lavender cookbook for the annual Ojai Lavender Festival? The cookbook Richard’s been trying out and adapting recipes for?  Well Kyle and her husband, Stuart, came for dinner the other night and Richard decided to surprise her with his own lavender dessert concoction.

Years ago I found a walnut cake recipe in a magazine that I’ve baked often with great success.  I know, I know – me?  Well, yeh!  You know I really do cook, right?  And often.  I’m just not the cook Richard is.  Anyway, Richard always loved this cake and thought it would be even better with a hint of lavender.

He was right.

Check it out.

LAVENDER WALNUT CAKE

Ingredients:

Cake:

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

Dry bread crumbs

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/4 cups walnuts, ground

1-3/4 cups sugar

8 eggs, separated

2 teaspoons ground culinary lavender buds

½ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

Syrup:

1cup water

¾ cup sugar

½ cup brandy

1 tablespoon culinary lavender buds

Directions:

Cake:

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Using 1 tablespoon of butter, grease a 9-inch round cake pan and dust it w/ bread crumbs, shaking out the excess.  Set aside.

Stir together flour, baking power and ground walnuts; reserve.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter, the sugar, egg yolks and lavender until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is very smooth.

In another bowl, whip the whites until firm.  Fold them into the butter mixture.  Little by little, add the flour mixture to the batter. 

Turn the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle w/ chopped nuts.

Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.  (Richard suggests you start testing after 45 minutes.)

Syrup:

While the cake is baking, bring 1 cup of water, lavender buds and sugar to a boil in a small sauce pan. Turn off heat and let steep for 15-20 minutes.  Strain and discard lavender.

When the cake is baked, turn it out onto a rack, invert, and place, right side up, on another rack.  Position the rack over a baking pan or plate w/ raised sides.

Re-warm the syrup.  Add the brandy.

Prick the cake deeply all over w/ a skewer or toothpick.  Brush the syrup over the hot cake.  Work slowly so that the cake has time to absorb the syrup.

Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Serves 6 to 8

Check out Volume 1 of the lavender cookbook.

http://www.ojaivalleylavenderfestival.org/pages/cookbook.html

LAVENDER - FROM FIELDS TO TABLE - Part 3 - Lavender Scones

LAVENDER – FROM FIELDS TO TABLE

Part 3

Lavender Scones

So, the last time we “spoke” Richard was improvising and testing recipes for a new lavender cookbook.  Then we broke for a week of thanksgiving with family in northern California, including wine tasting in Lodi (but more on that in future blogs)…

Now that we’re back in L.A., it’s time to tell you about his most recent kitchen foray.  Lavender scones!  A recipe submitted by Sandy Messori for cookbook consideration.  Can I just say, skoal to these scones.  Whether you serve them at tea time with your favorite jams or have them as a midnight snack while dressed in your jammies, they are absolutely delicious.  I think this is a winner for the new cookbook.

No need to say anything else except here’s the recipe.

LAVENDER SCONES

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon dried culinary lavender flower buds

1-1/3 cup heavy cream

2-1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking power

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon sugar

¼ lb (1 stick) unsalted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Combine lavender and 1 cup cream and bring to a boil.   

Let steep until cool, then refrigerate for several hours.  Strain cream.  Discard lavender.

Sift flour w/ baking powder, soda and sugar and put in a food processor.  

Cut up the butter and add it to the flour mix in the food processor.  Pulse until little balls form.  Stir in the cup of cream and mix until dough holds together.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill well.

 

On a lightly floured board, roll out the dough, ½ inch thick for tiny scones, ¾ inch for larger scones.

Cut out 1-1/2 inch circles for small scones, or 3 inch circles for larger scones w/ a cookie or biscuit cutter.  Gather scraps and repeat.

Arrange ‘rounds’ on a greased cookie sheet or a silpat.  Place close together, brush tops w/ remaining 1/3 cup of cream for a glazed finish...

...and bake until puffed and golden brown… 20-25 minutes.

 

I especially love them when they’re still warm from the oven and dripping w/ butter.

Enjoy!

Volume One of the Ojai Lavender Cookbook

http://www.ojaivalleylavenderfestival.org/pages/cookbook.html