Lemon Lavender Cake Inspired by Joanna Gaines
I have been inspired by Joanna Gaines at Magnolia more times than I can count. Her styling, creativity, interior design, and recipes are always so new, fresh and creative. Today I have joined some blogging friends in a response to a challenge Joanna Gaines mentioned in the introduction to her cookbook, Magnolia Table.
“A huge part of cooking is owning and enjoying the experience. Similar to my design philosophy about making your space uniquely yours, I want you to feel inspired to personalize these recipes and adjust them for your family’s tastes. If you don’t like onions, take them out! If you love mushrooms, add more. Just because the recipe is in the breakfast chapter doesn’t mean you have to serve it for breakfast. In fact, I encourage you to switch it up more often than not.”
Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Table
As a group, we thought it might be fun to take a recipe from the Magnolia Table cookbook and modify it to make it uniquely ours. Just as Joanna Gaines suggested, each of us has modified one of her recipes. As soon as I saw her recipe for Lemon Angel Food Cake, I knew what I wanted to do.
My favorite item to order off the menu at the Magnolia Table Restaurant is a Lavender Latte. I thought it might be fun to add a lavender twist to Joanna’s Lemon Angel Food Cake so I made Lemon Lavender Cake. Yum!
I thought about grabbing some lavender out of my garden but I wasn’t sure it was the edible type. So just to be safe, I ordered some Organic Lavender Flowers online. Joanna’s recipe called for cake flour and I am one of those people who does not have any extra room in my pantry. So I did the easy quick fix to modify all-purpose flour to cake flour. For every cup of all-purpose flour, remove one tablespoon of flour and replace it with one tablespoon of cornstarch. Sift together and you are good to go!
Angel Food cake calls for a lot of egg whites. This recipe calls for a cup and a half of egg whites which is anywhere between ten and twelve eggs. Don’t throw the egg yolks away because you can use them for some really great recipes.
True Vanilla Ice Cream from Epicurious
Martha Stewart’s Best Lemon Curd
Bucatini with Lemony Carbonara
Sweet Corn and Ricotta Raviolo
The Lemon Lavender Cake recipe also calls for you to sift the flour. I bake a lot and rarely see a recipe that calls for sifting. But don’t skip this step.
I get asked a lot about my zester as it creates pretty large pieces of zest. I bought the zester/grater at Williams Sonoma.
You also need an angel food pan for this cake. The recipe calls for a pan with a removable bottom. If you have a regular angel food cake pan like me, all you need to do is line the bottom with wax paper and you will be fine. Just cut a hole out of the middle.
Don’t butter or grease the pan. The batter needs to “cling” to the side of the pan as it rises.
Lemon Lavender Angel Food Cake Inspired by Joanna Gaines
Ingredients
- Cake:
- 1 1/3 cups cake flour (see blog post about how to convert all-purpose flour to cake flour)
- 2 cups of sugar
- 1 1/2 cups egg whites (approximately 10 - 12 eggs)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp dried lavender
- 2 TBL fresh lemon juice
- zest from one lemon
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- Buttercream Frosting:
- 1 cup softened butter
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 - 3 TBL heavy cream
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line bottom of pan with waxed paper. Do not grease.
- Sift the flour and 1/2 cup of the sugar. Repeat.
- In a grease free bowl, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt on low speed for one minute. Increase the speed to high and and gradually add remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar. Beat to stiff glossy peaks.
- Add the lemon zest, vanilla, lemon juice, and 1/2 tsp lavender and mix on medium speed about one minute.
- Add the flour mixture in fourths, sprinkling it over the beaten whites and folding it gently with a rubber spatula.
- Scrape the batter in to an angel food cake pan and smooth the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 - 40 minutes, until golden brown and edges lift away from side of pan.
- Invert the cake in the pan and cool to room temperature. Run a thin knife around the edge to loosen cake.
Buttercream Frosting
- Mix softened butter and sugar in mixer until blended, about two minutes. Add vanilla and cream, one tbl at a time until the correct consistency. Frost cake and sprinkle lemon zest and dried lavender on top.
The cake turned out great. All of my “testers” were very pleased!
Here are the recipes my fellow bloggers created.
My friend Ashley from Modern Glam made this Magnolia Table Banana Bread.
Janine from Happy Happy Nester made this fresh orange scone recipe.
Look at this amazing sandwich Tana from Your Marketing BFF made.
Christina from the DIY Mommy made this amazing Magnolia Table Lemon Pie.
Rhonda from Hallstrom Home made this amazing pizza.
Pin the image below to your Recipe boards on Pinterest (just click the Pin button in the top left corner). You can also follow along with me on Pinterest!
Thank you for sharing, Leslie. Your ideas are so fun (and helpful!). Now I know how to make cake flour from regular. I also have many ideas for those extra egg yolks that kept me from making an angel food cake! It’s always so fun to see what you are doing.
Fondly, Marta
What a gorgeous recipe. I don’t bake but this makes me want to give this one a try. Can you actually taste the lavender?