Sweet treats

Lemon and lavender spelt loaf cake recipe

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Add fresh flavours to a teatime treat with this delicious lemon and lavender loaf cake recipe. Perfect to serve alongside a steaming mug of tea and to enjoy with friends. You may find yourself coming back for more!

We particularly love the topping to this loaf cake recipe. Made with full-fat Greek yoghurt, it’s teeming with wellbeing benefits. Greek yoghurt is an easy and delicious way to support your gut health and add in your daily dose of probiotics. Probiotics are the gut-friendly bacteria that have numerous benefits for various areas of our health and wellbeing. This includes maintaining healthy gut movements, promoting immunity and lowering cholesterol.

While we don’t often think of it in cooking, lavender is a welcome addition to any kitchen. The soothing scent of lavender makes a great addition to drinks and desserts. Used sparingly, it has a sweet, delicate flavour that works beautifully in this lemon and lavender loaf cake here. It also looks particularly attractive when sprinkled over the top of icing.

Find out more about using edible flowers in your cooking here.

Discover more baking ideas from Liz Earle Wellbeing

Ingredients

  • 160g unsalted butter
  • 115g dark brown sugar
  • 4 tbsp honey
  • 200ml milk
  • 250g spelt flour
  • 1 ½ tsp baking powder
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • Mascarpone (optional)
  • 2 ½ tbsp dried lavender (removed from the stem)
  • 2 ½ tbsp lemon zest
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • ½ vanilla bean, scraped
  • 125g icing sugar
  • 1 tbsp full fat greek yoghurt

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas mark 4. Grease and line a two-litre loaf tin. Finely chop the dried lavender.
  2. Melt the butter and sugar, as well as the honey in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Once the mixture has melted, add the milk, stir and leave to cool.
  3. Sift the flour into a bowl with the baking powder and 2 tbsp dried lavender. Make a well in the centre and pour in the milk mixture. Using a wooden spoon, fold the flour in and stir to form a smooth batter. Then add in the eggs, 2 tbsp lemon zest and vanilla beans – carefully mixing it all together.
  4. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake in the oven for around one hour or until a skewer in the middle comes out clean.
  5. To make the icing, mix together the lemon juice, yoghurt and the icing sugar.
  6. Once it’s out of the oven, allow the cake to cool. Once cooled, pour over the icing mixture and sprinkle with the remaining dried lavender and 1 lemon zest.