This cake is a delight, especially heading into spring. The yoghurt sponge’s texture is divine, and this recipe is easily adaptable depending on your tastes!
Serves 8-10
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 125g pot of natural yoghurt
- 3 eggs
- 2 pots of caster sugar
- ½ pot of olive oil
- the zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tsp dried lavender
- 4 pots of self-raising flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
For the icing:
- 3 tsp dried lavender
- 200g icing sugar
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a cake tin (your size and shape of choice) and dust it with flour. Pour the yoghurt into a small mixing bowl and use the pot as your unit of measurement. Crack the eggs into a large mixing bowl and add the sugar, then beat vigorously until the mix becomes light and fluffy, and pale in colour.
- Now add the yogurt, olive oil, lemon zest, lavender and a pinch of salt; mix with a wooden spoon until well combined. Sift in the flour and the baking powder, then stir until the batter is smooth.
- Pour the mixture into the tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 30-35 minutes, until it is lightly golden on top and a skewer comes out clean when inserted. Because it is quite a wet batter, it can be tricky to tell if the cake is cooked through – so gently press on top, and if it springs back then it is done. Take the cake out of the oven and turn it on to a cooling rack, then leave to cool completely before icing.
- To make the icing, add a teaspoon of dried lavender to a cup of boiling water and leave it to steep for at least 30-40 minutes.
- When you are ready to ice the cake, sift the icing sugar into a small bowl and add 3-4 teaspoons of lavender water. Stir vigorously to stop lumps forming, and keep adding lavender water as you see fit.
- You want the icing to be runny but not so thin that it won’t set – when you hold up the spoon, the icing should trickle off slowly. If it is too thick add a little more lavender water; if too runny sift in a touch more icing sugar. Use the teaspoon to drizzle the icing over the cake, then sprinkle with the last of the dried lavender flowers for decoration.