By Chris, February 5, 2020

Light, fluffy , yellow cake soaked in a rosemary and lavender infused simple syrup. Layered with a light, creamy, lemon whipped cream frosting. Yep. It’s downright amazing. I absolutely love lemon. Rosemary and Lavender are right up there with it!. I was so in the mood for a light refreshing cake . I made it on Sunday to celebrate Imbolc and of course how could I not have a dessert made for super bowl Sunday! lol. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Imbolc, It is a Gaelic festival that marks the beginning of spring. It’s usually held on February 1st or 2nd. It marks the halfway point between the winter solstice and spring equinox. That being said, I wanted to make something representing the early signs of spring and the connection I have with nature. I made it and it was soo good…..everyone loved it. I posted probably the messiest pic I could have posted lol. I wasn’t even planning on posting a pic, but I did. I put it on Instagram and Facebook and I received an amazing amount of positive feedback and requests for the recipe. This recipe is not difficult to make at all and definitely brings the wow factor.

Since I don’t have step by step pics, I’m just going to have the recipe listed below with my notations mixed in. Let’s get started

Here it is! The messiest pic with the best reputation!!! Moist, light , aromatic and flavorful. A cake that tastes like heaven!

Recipe

Simple syrup:

  • 2 Tablespoons dried lavender buds
  • 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 1 1/2 cups of sugar
  • 1 cup of water

Directions:

Add all of the above ingredients to a small/medium size saucepan over medium /low heat. Stir to incorporate.Bring to a low boil for about 5 minutes. Turn the flame down to a simmer. Simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep for 10 minutes. Strain all the syrup into a bowl or small meassuring cup and let cool.

yellow cake:

I took a short cut here. I’m not going to lie. i used King Arthur gluten free yellow cake mix. Feel free to make your own from scratch if you have a favorite go to recipe or just use your favorite box yellow cake mix. The important thing is that you bake it using two 8″ or 9″ round cake pans.

once baked. cool in pan for 5 minutes then remove them from the pans and allow to cool completely on wire racks. When completely cooled, gently remove the very thin top layer of caramelization from both cake rounds. Using a sharp long serated knife, carefully cut each cake in half horizontally, giving you a total of four thin cake rounds. With a pastry brush, brush each cake round with simple syrup making sure it gets plenty covered so that the syrup seeps into the cake. set them aside.

Lemon mascarpone whipped cream frosting:

  • 8 ounce tub of mascarpone
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • juice of two lemons
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 cup powderd sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream

Directions:

In a medium size bowl, add the mascarpone, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and powdered sugar. Stir to combine until smooth using a hand mixer. In a large bowl add the heavy cream and using a hand mixer, beat until stiff peaks form. Add the mascarpone filling to the whipped cream and mix on high for two minutes. You can either frost the cake immediately or you can pop it in a tupperware in the fridge until you are ready to use.

Assembling the cake:

There will be two cake rounds that have the bottoms stil in tact. take 1 and place on a serving plate. add enough lemon frosting to cover the surface. Repeat with each layer ending with the last layer on top with the caramalization facing up. now frost the rest of the cake.

Note:

I take about a teaspoon each of dried rosemary and dried lavender buds and grind them in my mortar and pestel to make an aromatic powder that i sprinkle on top of the cake for a little bit of color and a hit of flavor.

I reserve any leftover simple syrup . Strain it from any cake crumbs and store in a jar with a tight fitting lid in the fridge for two weeks. Add it to lemonade to give it an aromatic sweet flavor, drizzle it over lemon sorbet for a quick gourmet treat. Perfect for a quick dessert. Sweeten up hot tea. Dress up your favorite fruit salad with a light drizzle. So many options to use this beautiful hand crafted simple syrup.

I hope you enjoy making and eating this delicious, light, fluffy, lemony ,

aromatic cake, and try some of my simple syrup suggestions .

like my post and drop me a comment .

much love!!!

Thanks,

Chris