Blackberry Lavender Cake
IT'S SUMMER! And because of that, this week was filled with graduation cake & macaron orders for me! Which made me very happy and a bit overwhelmed, but at the end of the day being able to see all of the cakes go to happy homes puts a smile on my face.
These sweet little gem is filled with four layers of upside down lavender and blackberry cake and filled with layers of lavender swiss meringue buttercream. And my favorite part is the little floral crown on top made of thyme flowers, sage, multicolored black berries, and wild lavender from my garden.
Blackberry Lavender Cake
Cake:
2 1/2 c cake flour
2 1/2 t baking powder
pinch salt
2 c sugar
2 sticks room temp. butter
1 T vanilla
1 c milk
4 eggs
3 pints blackberries
1/2 T dried lavender
Lavender Swiss Meringue Frosting:
250g egg whites
14 oz sugar
7 sticks medium temperature butter, yes 7 sticks.
2 t vanilla bean
pinch of salt
1 T dried lavender
Cake:
first things first, heat your oven to 350F. next mix 1 1/4 c of the sugar with the room temperature butter with a stand mixer until it is super fluffy and no longer granular, this takes about 5 minutes and helps the cake be nice and fluffy!
once the butter and sugar have become great friends add the dried lavender and vanilla. when adding the dried lavender pinch and roll it between your fingers before throwing it into the mixer, this helps to release the natural oils in the lavender. while that whips up sift all of your dry ingredients into one bowl.
scrape down the sides of the bowl and add 1/3 of your dry ingredients and mix again, once that is combined, add some of your milk, and continue doing this until you've added all of the flour and milk.
once your batter is finished prepare 4 6in' cake pans by spraying them well with cooking spray and lining the bottom of each pan with parchment paper. divide the blackberries equally between the 4 pans, you may have to cut some berries in half depending on how big they are. i also took this time to sprinkle a little more lavender on top of the blackberries, because lavender is my favorite!
now divide the batter between the 4 prepared pans ( this recipe can also make 2 9in' cakes, but I like my cakes little and tall!) and bake until a toothpick comes out clean. approximately 25-35 minutes.
once the cakes are done baking let them cool for about 10 minutes and then invert them out of the pan and peel the parchment off the bottom. it's important to take the pans out when they are still a little warm so the blackberry layer doesn't stick to the sides of the pan.
Lavender Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
a day before i chose to mix my lavender and sugar together and let the sugar absorb the flavor of the lavender and then i sifted the lavender out, i believe this helps permeate the flavor of lavender better, but if you are in a time crunch you can skip this step and just add it whole to the actual frosting. i did both.
over a double boiler mix your egg whites and sugar with a whisk until foamy. the sugar should be dissolved and no longer granular, about 3 minutes.
whip the mixture on high until glossy and the bowl is no longer warm.
add the softened (not room temperature!) butter in pieces slowly, the frosting will look like it has broken but it will whip back up just keep adding butter and give the frosting lots of compliments.
after the frosting has whipped back up again and looks lovely add your vanilla, a pinch of salt, and pinches of dried lavender rolling it between your fingers like you did with the cake.
only add as much lavender as you like, i personal like a lot, but if you are new to the flavor maybe only use a little. just remember to taste as you go!