I am a lemon girl all the way, always have been – only chocolate gives lemon any hope of an equal fight, and it still depends on the day! So I was completely on board when we chose Lemon for our April Sweet Adventures Blog Hop.
I wanted to make a cake – Angel Food Cake to be exact – and spike it with copious amounts of lemon. But Angel Food Cake has the same issue as Meringue and Pavlova – lots and lots of sugar. Damn.
My mind started spinning as per usual – maybe I could edit it… reduce the amount of sugar a bit… or use other kinds of sugar perhaps… However flashbacks of the disastrous coconut sugar pavlova experiment flashed before me and well, it’s been a busy weekend so I played it safe. Sort of!
I found a chiffon cake section in my favourite vintage cookbook – just one page before the angel food as a matter of fact. And because the sugar is added to egg yolks and flour and not the egg whites I figured that substituting and reducing the amount would be a pretty safe bet.
And what you do you know, it was. I love it when a plan comes together… nearly as much as I love cake. Even better, I used the left over egg yolks to make Lemon Curd for the topping, everybody wins.
Don’t forget to vote in the 2012 Best Australian Blogs People’s Choice!
~~~
Lemon, Lavender and Honey Chiffon Cake
Adapted from my 1965 Better Homes and Gardens gold-edition vintage cookbook
Ingredients:
1 c organic unbleached white flour
1/3 c coconut or rapadura sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 c macadamia oil [or neutral oil]
2 egg yolks
1/4 c cold water
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp grated lemon peel
1/4 c honey
2 tsp lavender flowers
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
4 egg whites
To Serve:
Lemon Curd
2 Tbsp warm honey plus 1 tsp lavender flowers
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C [350F]. In a small sauce pan, gently heat honey and lavender flowers for two minutes – do not boil. Set aside to cool slightly.
Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form – approx 3-4 minutes. Set aside.
Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Add – in order – the oil, egg yolks, water, vanilla and lemon zest. Beat for one minute until smooth and satin-y. Drizzle in slightly cooled honey and lavender and beat a further one minute.
Slowly pour egg yolk mixture over egg whites and gently fold through to combine. Pour into an angel food cake tube pan or a high sided 8 inch cake pan with a jar in the middle – make sure the pan has a removable base, do not grease or line pans.
Bake in pre-heated oven for 30 minutes, reduce temperature to 150C [300F] and bake for a further 10 minutes. Remove from oven and turn upside-down on a wire rack, cool completely in pan. To remove, run a thin knife around edge of cake, set on a mug/upturned dish let pan slide down. Run knife between both the base and centre column and gently remove cake.
Top with Lemon Curd, and if desired drizzle with Lavender infused Honey.
Serves 10-12.
~~~
~~~
This post is part of the April Sweet Adventures Blog Hop – Lemons – hosted by Jennifer of Delicieux. Check out all the other wonderful desserts that have been linked-up below!
SABH is a monthly blog hop brought to you by your hostesses – The Hungry Australian, Dining With a Stud, The Capers of the Kitchen Crusader, Delicieux and me – 84th & 3rd.
~~~
Lovely flavor combinations, my mouth is watering. The lavender infused honey it sounds wonderful.
Thanks Kyrstie – the scent of the lavender was just divine while it all baked!
I agree with you – chocolate is the only thing that can tempt me more than lemons!
Lovely cake; lemon with lavender and honey sounds like a match made in heaven!
I’m the same, only chocolate can tempt me away from lemony treats. It’s just a shame I don’t like lemon and chocolate together!
Your cake looks gorgeous. Your post has reminded me I have some culinary lavender sitting in the pantry that I must use!
Cheers Jennifer, now I just need to work out what to do with the rest of my lavender too!
JJ – this is one dainty and beautiful cake! I have been dying to use lavender in something. I love that you took the time to reduce the sugar content too.
Thanks Anna, I hope you try it!
The flavours you have chosen are unusual and sound delicious. Perfect
Beautiful! It looks so soft. I would love a slice, but I doubt there is any left.
The texture of the cake was indeed soft – being the first chiffon I’ve ever made I was quite pleased! The leftovers were gobbled up at work – I didn’t trust myself to keep the entire thing at home!
Looks great! I am also a huge lemon fan, if there is nothing lemony or chocolatey on a dessert menu then I don’t bother!
I’m a bit the same, although a good apple dessert can catch my eye in the absence of lemon and chocolate… Who am I kidding the list desserts I’ll eat is long and distinguished – ha!
Wow, these flavours would be fantastic together. I love the sound of this. And I thought you’d be interested to know that I also decided to try going sugar-free. Unfortunately the next day my mother gave me a 1 metre long Toblerone bar. I decided that the universe was trying to tell me something 😉
Ha! The call of a big ‘ol candy bar can do that! Good for you to even think about it, I obviously haven’t been too strict lately though 😉
Dear JJ,
This looks like a beautiful cake and although I’m no baker, I love lemons too as it adds such important taste and flavour dimensions, especially in Italian cooking.
Love this one JJ, the cake looks dreamy and cloud like… I bet it tastes lovely.
Beautifully combined flavors…I’d like to try this out too.
The lemon icing on the cake looks so incredibly delicious!
Agree, lemons and chocolate are real winners when it come to flavours. I love the combination of lemon and lavender and I am sure the cake is delicious!
This sounds SO good! I love the idea of combining lavender and lemon. I haven’t baked with lavender in a couple of years and now I’m itching to go buy some! I also love that you were able to avoid refined sugar. I bake so much and I’m starting to be more aware of how much sugar I’m consuming. I’ll have to get some coconut sugar and try out this cake because it looks divine!
This looks amazing…. I made a ring cake the other day and I think it’s my favourite cake shape.
I am totally tempted to make this, soley for the smell of it baking! Though it looks beautiful too. The perfect partner for a proper afternoon tea with dainty tea cups. It’s so pretty!
Another winner!! I have never seen lavender for cooking. Do you think we have it in the States?
just baked this and the flavours of fresh lemons and lavender from my garden are dancing around in my mouth!! winner recipe and the curd is intensly delicious!!!