Oh my, hi! The cake is completely frosted! I have a special guest! I invited a stranger over for a sleepover! There are also macarons! And this cake has four layers! I’m just full of surprises in this post!
I have been a huge fan of Kelsey’s blog, The Farmer’s Daughter, for a long time. She blogs about rustic apple pies with lattice tops, cute outfits she wears on her family’s farm (when she’s not too busy being attacked by the pigs), and DIY projects that are beyond cute. We live about an hour and half drive away from each other and three weekends ago, she decided to drive over to Vancouver for a baking date! We had a slumber party at my house and did all the girly things – we baked, we painted our nails, and got coffee + donuts the next morning. It was our first time meeting but it seemed like we have been friends for the longest time. To be honest, I was quite nervous before we met. She seemed so cool and I’m just here…being me.
We started discussing what kind of cake we wanted to make a week or so before she came over. We knew we wanted something floral and topped with macarons. We decided on a four-layer lavender earl grey cake with buttercream covering the sides. Kelsey and I wanted our cake to look “rustic” (aka. even if we mess up, it will look intentional) so we used a technique for the buttercream that was new to both of us. Using a small icing spatula, we left the stroke marks evident on the cake, instead of smoothing it out.
The cake recipe is below and you will find the lavender macaron recipe on Kelsey’s blog, here!
PS. Things to be excited about in this post:
1) The super even cake layers – nothing is as exciting as cutting into a cake with perfectly symmetrical layers!
2) The set of customized flatware from Taudrey – they were generous enough to send me a set of golden fork and spoon that I got to customize myself! The fork says #cake and the spoon says #bakewithamy!
3) Getting the last bouquet of cream coloured roses at the store for this post
4) Coincidentally wearing matchy matchy dresses with Kelsey
5) The edible gold pixie dust sprinkled on top of the cake and macarons
6) The gif towards the end!
I hope you enjoy this post as much as I enjoyed making the cake and working with Kelsey and Victor!
Ingredients
Earl Grey Lavender Cake
- 410 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 3/4 sugar
- 6 large eggs, at room temperature
- 4 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp earl grey tea, finely ground
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 400 ml milk
- 2 tbsp earl grey lavender tea, alternatively, use 2 tbsp earl grey tea and 1 tsp culinary lavender
Lavender Buttercream
- 1 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 4 1/2 – 5 1/2 cups icing sugar
- 1 tsp culinary lavender, finely ground
- 3 tbsp milk
- Few drops purple food colouring
Lavender Macarons*
Instructions
Earl Grey Lavender Cake
- Preheat oven to 350F and grease four cake pans.
- In a small sauce pan, steep the earl grey lavender tea in the milk over medium heat. Once milk comes to a soft boil, remove the saucepan from the heat and let tea steep for 5 minutes. Set aside.
- In a standing mixer with a paddle attachment cream the butter and sugar together. Gradually add in the eggs, one at a time.
- In a separate bowl, whisk to combine flour, baking powder, finely ground earl grey tea, and salt.
- Add half of the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture and mix on slow to combine. Gradually pour in the milk and add in the remainder of the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.
- Divide the mixture evenly among the four prepared cake pans and bake for 35-37 minutes. Check for doneness a few minutes before the 35 minute mark by using a toothpick – if the toothpick comes out clean, you’re good to go. You can also test for doneness by gently pressing your finger on the cake – it should spring back up.
- Tip: I like to use an ice cream scoop to portion out my cake batter into pans to make sure each pan gets the exact same amount of batter. This is extremely helpful especially when you only have two cake pans and want to make sure you have enough batter for the second batch of cake rounds. I used a standard ice cream scoop and put seven scoops of batter into each 6-inch pan. I had enough batter left over for six additional cupcakes. Cupcakes require less cooking time, roughly 16 – 18 minutes to bake.
Lavender Buttercream
- In a large bowl, cream the butter until it is pale and fluffy. Add the icing sugar, one cup at a time. Add ground lavender. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add in the three tablespoons of milk, one at a time, mixing between each addition. If buttercream is too thick, add half tablespoon of milk at a time until desired consistency is reached. Add in a few drops of purple food colouring and mix well.
Notes
Ring & Pretty Things || Foe and Dear
Customized Gold Flatware || Taudrey
Unknown says
THIS WHOLE SHOOT IS SO GORGEOUS!!!! I love everything from the color coordination in your guys' outfits and the sparkly gold accents. You are too cute Amy!! And the cake is a stunner (but really all your cakes are) xoxo
Unknown says
How did you get the cake colour stay so light? I followed the recipe exactly and the colour is similar to a banana cake. Otherwise it’s delicious.
Unknown says
Really everything is gorgeous and looks too lovely to eat. You two gals are really lucky to have found each other with the same favorite things in common. What a wonderful time you both must have had. Hugs
Unknown says
Really everything is gorgeous and looks too lovely to eat. You two gals are really lucky to have found each other with the same favorite things in common. What a wonderful time you both must have had. Hugs
Unknown says
This is an amazing post Amy! I'd loooove to try one of your cakes one day! Totally inspired by these amazing blog posts. Keep it the great work <3
aimee says
So beautiful it looks amazing xxx
Margaux Daisy says
Oh my god your pictures are so beautiful, and the cake so yummy <3 i love it !
Unknown says
Such a gorgeous photo shoot!
Aileen says
this is gorgeous and i love the colors!! Can I ask where both of you got your lace dresses from? So so pretty!
Valérie I♥Cakes says
You did such an amazing job with the cake, the colour is just perfect ! The other goodies are really cute too. It's so nice to have a baking buddy, I have one too and I love to have baking dates !
benilhalk says
Extremely beautiful cake! Love the texture and quite sure it was delicious too. Would love to try this cake for my sister’s birthday. She wants a colorful party this year at one of party venues in NYC and trying to fulfill her wish.
Unknown says
Just found you. We both love lavender ~ both to cook with and enjoy the color in all things. If you have a minute, please chech out my new blog http://thequeenofscones.com
Unknown says
Would it be possible to bake the cake in 2 8-inch pans instead of four 6-inch? I only have 8-inch pans and I don't want to buy new ones just for this if I can help it! I was thinking about splitting the cakes in half horizontally to make four layers. Is there enough batter for two eight-inch cakes and a few cupcakes? Thanks!
Unknown says
I made this for my birthday cake yesterday and not only was it gorgeous and delicious, it was a hit among my whole family! Thank you so much!!
Unknown says
I love your blog!! It is so beautiful!!
Unknown says
Where are the adorable mini cake stands from?! I love them! Your plates are darling too!
Unknown says
I used 3 nine-inch pans and got beautiful, thick layers. No batter leftover. I ended up making more frosting twice to just barely cover the cake. All told, I made two whole recipes of frosting. I can't imagine how one recipe was enough even for 6-inch cakes plus cupcakes. Recipe was relatively easy, and I predict delicious. It's for my daughter-in-law's birthday tonight. Yes your pictures are beautiful!
Musings says
Is it possible to use lavender extract in place of culinary lavender?
Joanna says
hi, may I check what is the brand of earl grey tea you used?
Thanks!
Unknown says
Hi! Is it possible to do a chocolate version of this cake, and if so how should I do it?
Amy 2 says
Just made the cake/cupcakes last night and they all turned out wonderful. Great flavor! Both the earl grey (I used Twinings Earl Grey Bold) and lavender came through nicely. Only small comment (and I see someone else had the same issue) was that the butter cream recipe wasn't nearly enough. I had to triple the recipe and I didn't even fully frost between layers because I just put a rim and then filled the inside with honey poached pear. But all in all a simply wonderful recipe and thank you so much for sharing!!
Liz says
the flavor is nice but i didn’t like the texture of the cake, i noticed there’s no oil or yogurt in the recipe to make it moist. the cake was dry, heavy and dense.