Lemon and lavender drizzle cake

Along with my carrot and ginger cake with orange ginger drizzle, I've made another drizzle cake for Will's funeral today - a lemon and lavender drizzle.  This recipe only uses egg yolks, and I used the leftover egg whites to make a batch of blackberry almond friands.

Ingredients

5oz caster sugar

1 ½ tbsp dried lavender flowers

3oz butter

4 egg yolks

Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated

½ tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp lemon extract

5oz self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

5 tbsp milk

For the drizzle

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tsp dried lavender flowers

1 to 2 tbsp hot water

4oz icing sugar

To decorate

Dried lavender flowers

Method

1. Heat oven to 175°C. Grease and line a 5x9 inch loaf tin.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the sugar and lavender until well mixed and the lavender is nicely bruised.
3. Add the butter and beat with the sugar until light and fluffy.
4. In a separate, large mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks until light and lemon coloured.
5. Add the beaten egg yolks to the creamed butter and mix thoroughly.
6. Blend in the lemon zest and the extracts.
7. Gradually sift in the flour and baking powder, alternating with the milk. Beat well.
8. Spoon batter into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
9. Meanwhile, make the drizzle: heat the juice of 1 lemon and 2 teaspoons of lavender flowers in a small saucepan.  Strain the juice into a bowl and discard the flowers.
10. Sift the icing sugar into the hot lemon juice, and add enough hot water to make a good drizzling consistency.
11. Remove cake from the oven and place the tin on a wire rack.  Pierce holes all over the top of the cake with a skewer, and drizzle half the glaze over the top. 
12. Leave to cool for about 20 minutes before removing the cake from the tin and drizzling the remaining glaze over the top. 
13. Decorate with a few lavender flowers, and then leave to cool completely.