Bobby Blanc moved into his new quarters yesterday. Now he sleeps in the barn sun-room and has access to the corridor paddock. He literally trotted around and around thrilled to bits to be out and about. Kicking up his heels and holding his head high.
Naturally TonTon and Mary’s Cat spent a very busy day laying about in there as well. They quite wore themselves out being companionable. 
No animal is alone on the farmy!
I harvested some lavender flowers though not too many. It is a dangerous business picking lavender with the bushes full of bees. The best time to harvest lavender is early morning when the bees are still sleeping and the buds are high in oil. I should have remembered. 
To make a lavender lemon cake. Take your favourite butter cake or pound cake recipe. When you cream the butter and sugar add a cup of lavender buds. Just buds, no stalks. Make sure to Press the mixture together and let it settle. Herbs need to be squeezed and played with just like babies, so they exude their fragrance. I let the butter sit with the herb for at least half an hour. This way the flavours have tons of time to exchange.
Here is my recipe:
- 1/2 pound of butter
- 1 and 1/2 cups of vanilla infused sugar
- 1 cup honey
- 1 cup of lavender buds,
- the juice of half a lemon and the zest of that lemon.
Press together with your hands, let it sit for a while, then whip together until creamy.
- Add 6 eggs one at a time
- 3 cups of flour alternating with 2/3 cup of cream from your own cow!
Place in cold oven and bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.
After it is baked and while it is still piping hot, squeeze the juice from the other lemon on top, sprinkle with sugar and fresh lavender buds.
The lavender jelly failed this time because I tried to exchange half of the sugar for honey. I have not given up yet though, so stay tuned. Even though it did not set, I drizzled a little onto the sauteed ‘fresh from the garden’ zuchinni at the end of it’s cooking time and it was divine.
Last night we also had mashed potato with truffle oil, on the recommendation of Sopsta, my beautiful daughter who is off to Melbourne soon for a look-see. She is thinking of relocating there. She is a professional waitress. She is looking for the best restaurants and the sweetest back packers. I had an old friend who travelled a lot, he was a Catholic priest actually. And he said when you travel, sleep cheap and eat well! This has become a family mantra. With the family addition of the last two nights away are always, always spent in a ridiculously expensive hotel. Has to be done!
If you have any tips about Melbourne for my beautiful daughter we would love to hear from you. The cats have discovered that the barn has milk!
And look at the grapes. 
We really are looking at a bumper crop.
Good morning! My coffee this morning has creamy fresh milk in it. We are now officially drinking Daisy milk. It is pure white and tasty, of course. Yesterday I also began a big pot of yoghurt. This morning I will set it to strain, making it thicker and more like a greek yoghurt. The pigs will have the whey!
I hope you are all going to have a lovely day. My lovely day is about to begin. I have to weed the frog garden after all the chores today. The second sowing of beans are coming up!
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
111 responses to “Lavender Lemon Cake”
Your energy amazes me!
morning Julie! c
evening Cecilia – i am off to bed! jx
an excellent idea! c
Amazing photos today, C – you really outdid yourself this time!
So glad you posted this early…the Little One is up already, and at my side, ready to get in the car and go see her cousin.
The pics of Baby Bobby slowed her down. For a minute…
Have a great day!
Does this mean you have a day off? Hope so. It would be nice to sit in your garden with a cup of tea and watch out for our deer! c
Day Off? What’s that?
No, we made a trip up to see the Butterfly Daughter and Cousin Niko. Left the camera at home, too…Sometimes, you just want to be Grandmom, and not the Family Historian!
Very wise! c
I look forward to seeing my lavender mature, and then I will enjoy cakes and jelly as you do.
…and I will search for a lovely little jelly carafe too.
That is a wee crystal sugar bowl, isn’t it sweet! morning! c
This cake looks stunning. I wish I had a calf! So cute…
he is cute and quiet, the perfect calf! c
Beautiful cake. I will make one based on this when I can harvest our lavender too. Enjoy your day!
that is the great thing about this, you can adapt your favourite recipe! c
Cecilia, what did you bake it in, the folds around the cake sides look attractive to me. Recipe with pounds is a challenge….back to the converter. The Americanization of measurements in cooking is easy though when cup measurements are used. I have Carol Field cookbooks and she goes too far when she puts in measurements like 2 cups of plain flour plus 2 dessertspoons of plain flour.
Definitely going to make this cake, have lavender, will bake but have to fail on serving with a home brand of cream. Thanks Roz
Morning Roz. When I make a cake I line the cake tin with baking paper.. I just kind of jam it in and the cake weighs it down and then i trim it around the top edge to avoid fires. I have quite literally set a cake on fire! It saves on washing up!! c
Lovely to have your own milk at last, Celi (the cats think so, too). I saw that you put cream in your cake. The best cream that we get here is from a local — Marin County — dairy. I buy it for desserts and special occasions. If you like that sort of thing, there is a wonderful recipe for caramel icing on “The Kale Chronicles” this week (the cake is there, too, courtesy of Lisa Knighton).
Oh yes, i am interested in caramel, I shall pop over, thank you for the heads up!! c
I am drooling. That Bobby looks really healthy and happy.
ViV x
He is a gentle giant. Unlike his mother who is a giant but not gentle.. c
i think i will go out and snip some of my lavender this morning! how cute that the kitties are getting milk. you can see how important a dairy cow is to a farm.
Morning .. this is why we call Daisy the Mother Ship! c
Ahhhh, fresh milk – all those years of effort come to fruition! The picture of TonTon and Bobby is so heart warming. The ‘kitties’ must be thrilled too.
I have a son who is a world traveller – a photographer/videographer nomad – he says he’s semi-retired…..at 25 year old! He backpacks, in Asia lately, staying in guest houses or hostels. He says you can live for a dollar a day in Asia…….if you stay out of the tourist ‘traps’ and meet the ‘real’ people. Oh these kids of ours!!!
Morning GMom. Sopsta has spent quite a bit of time in Thailand and says the same thing, and I bet your son eats that fab fresh street food too! That is the way to go! c
Wonderful pics, as usual! I made a lemon pound cake just the other day–now I must will my new lavender plants to grow, so I can add that as well!
you make lovely cakes! c
Thanks!
I hope you thought of me eating that yummy cake 😉
Morning Tandy, you are so good with your baking! c
I am blown away by the cake recipe. Lavender we have, although it’s late this year. I am making that cake – the expense of buying a cow for the cream was unexpected and not budgeted for. Hell. it’s only money.
Exactly. Everyone needs a cow!! let me know how it turns out .. c
You now have me staring at my one little lavender plant 🙂
Oh dear, poor wee plant, morning Miss T.. c
Pretty cake.
Morning Rosemary.. c