Lavender Tea Cakes
By: Chef Don Messina
Published: Sunday, February 28, 2010 - 4:32am

Ingredients




4 teaspoons Dried Lavender
9 ounces Granulated Sugar
8 ounces Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
Finely Grated Zest from 2 Oranges

Juice from 2 Large Oranges

1/4 teaspoon Almond Extract
4 Whole Eggs
3/4 teaspoon Salt
7 ounces All Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
2 ounces Ground Almond Flour
For the Topping ( Garnish)

2 ounces Sliced, Toasted Almonds
Confectioners Sugar for Dusting

1 teaspoon dried Lavender

Preparation

1 Preheat Oven to 350 degrees 2 Grease Muffin Pan, and lightly dust with flour 3 Put the Lavender, and some of the Sugar into a clean coffee grinder, and grind until a fine powder is formed. Combine powdered Lavender mixture with remaining Sugar and reserve. 4 Cream the Lavender Sugar with Butter until light and fluffy. 5 Add Orange Juice, Orange Zest, Almond Extract and Eggs. Mix well. 6 Sift together Flour, Baking Powder and Salt. Beat into the wet ingredients and add Ground Almonds. 7 Pour Batter into prepared Muffin molds, leaving ¼ Inch from the top. 8 Sprinkle Almonds evenly over the top of the batter, and dust with Confectioners Sugar. 9 Bake for 35-40 Minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 10 Allow to cool 10 minutes, and remove from pan. 11 Sprinkle with dried Lavender and serve.

About


I've written before of my love of cooking with edible flowers, and this is one of the best applications I have for the practice. Almond cakes on their own are wonderful, but with the subtle taste of Lavender added they are superb.