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”
I think I would just love to be able to say, “today I need to weed the frog garden,” Celi! You made me chuckle! I’ve been doing my best to find reliable recipes for my abundant lavender crop, so I will be making this beautiful cake this weekend, that’s a certainty! Good tips on how to maximize on the lavender oil! Baby Blanc is adorable, and looks so strong and healthy! Traveling mercies to your daughter! She sounds adventurous like her mother! 🙂 Debra
Morning Debra. One day I am going to make lavender oil but I need one of those evaporator thingies.. c
Today’s list for the grocery !
Lemons
Dairy Cow
No problem ……..
Morning C ……Bobby looks like he is on a mission….love him.
nanster
I think there is a special on cows at the store!! c
When we had an elderly neighbour who never went into her garden I said we should get a cow – it would keep the weeds down, be cute etc, etc. I’m now wishing I had followed my own advice! Morning or should I say afternoon as that is what it is here!
you could have got a little jersey, it would be perfect for a garden!! c
Lovely today, c!
Just checking in again to say I enjoy visiting here every day. Your notes and photos remind me of my childhood on a dairy farm.
Lovely to see you leenie and great to know you are still visiting! c
The travel philosophy appeals! Especially with your addition. A good clean up in luxury is the greatest way to end a good adventure.
What a refreshing change, Celi, to find a blog that admits to a cooking failure! My god, that’s enough for even the worst cooks to give it a try! 😀
Oh how Yummcious that cake looks! Your grapes are enviable; my baby plants do have a few clusters…so I am happy!
I picked my first batch of peas this morning! yippee!
J
This cake looks stunning my friend! Absolutely wonderful! And Little Bobby has me grinning very hard 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
The new calf is such a Beautiful Boy! The cake looks yummy and will have to save the recipe and make for a special occasion or an every day occasion:) Have a Great Day!
What a gorgeous sugared cake! Yum!
I love lavender, and your photographs are beautiful, Celi! Must try that cake – Love the cats round the milk….
So many exciting things going on today – Bobby out and about and making friends, a beautiful cake, thoughts of your daughter’s travels and your grapes are amazing. Bigger than ours!
I thought you had gone to london Tanya!! Are you neglecting your packing? c
I’m here – can’t access e-mail but I can get onto wordpress so am able to check out blogs! It’s wet and grey 😦
So many delights on the farmy today; young Bobby looks handsome and frisky, the lavender divine (I can almost smell it from here), the grapes swelling with promise, and the milk is like heavenly milk-of-human-kindness. And none of this would happen without hard work and belief in the best of everything. I rejoice for you!
I am feeling the hard work in my shoulders, i am going to get milk maid muscles from the buckets! c
Hi C!
I love to read your post… Bobby Blanc gets prettier by the minute and your cake looks amazing.
Good night 🙂
goodnight giovanna, at least your blog does not sleep so I can pop over and visit!! c
Beautiful cake and Bobby does have fantastic markings!
If you liked it on potato, then you’l find that truffle oli is excellent on popcorn too 😉
Hmm, well I never thought of doing that, I had a guy in germany tell me the other day that garlic butter is good on popcorn.. do you guys know each other? c
While we are on the subject – my ex (an American girl) introduced me to brewers yeast on popcorn – it makes it taste cheesy and delicious.
crazy!!