Inspired by....Lavender

What's not to love about lavender.....

.....when I saw this lavender cake recipe in one of my English Home magazines, I had to make it. Doesn't it look wonderful in the magazine ~ and I have lavender growing in my garden.

I got busy right away and started mixing. As the cake was baking you could smell the aroma of lavender.

I watched through my oven window.....and, hmmmmm, why isn't the cake rising? What did I do wrong? Was it in the conversion of the recipe?

~

Well ~ this is how my cake turned out. It looks like a flat pastry, not at all like the magazine.

So, want to know what I did wrong?

I used regular flour instead of self-rising flour. Silly me. I was so worried about the conversion, I skimmed right over the flour.

It's still very delicious!

If you would like to try it, here is the recipe. It's a wonderful cake and would probably taste even better if it was made the right way!

Lavender Cake
175g/ 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
175g/ 3/4 cup caster sugar
3 eggs lightly beaten
175g/ 1-1/2 cups self-rising flour, sifted
1 tbsp. fresh lavender florets
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp milk
50g/ 1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp water
a few fresh lavender florets for decoration

Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F. Grease a ring tin or a deep 20cm/8in round cake tin. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the egg gradually, beating between each addition until the mixture is glossy. Fold in the flour, lavender, vanilla and milk. Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for an hour. Leave to stand for five minutes, then turn out and cool on a wire rack. Mix the icing sugar with the water until smooth. Pour over the cake and decorate.

Enjoy!