Afternoon tea at the Omega Café can be a special time, and baker Tim McGuire created these gluten-free lavender tea cakes with that in mind. Delicately flavored with dried lavender flowers mixed into the batter, the cakes are served with whipped cream and strawberries for just the right amount of sweet.
Makes 9 small (3.5 inch) Bundt cakes that each serve 1-2 people. The recipe can also be halved for 4 cakes (use 4 eggs).
Ingredients
1 pound unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups sugar
9 eggs
2 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups gluten-free flour (any store-bought brand will do, or see recipe below)
2 2/3 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/4 teaspoons sea salt
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons dried lavender
Whipped Cream
2 quarts of heavy cream
3 ½ tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
Garnish
fresh strawberries for slicing
powdered sugar
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer on medium speed until they are fully mixed. Avoid leaving lumps of butter, but also be careful not to mix it so much it becomes too warm. Scrape the bowl to make sure all the butter is mixed in. Crack the eggs into a separate container and add the vanilla. Mix this in several parts ("one" egg at a time) into the creamed butter-sugar mixture. Scrape the bowl.
With the mixer stopped, add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in on slow speed. Scrape the bowl and stir in the lavender flowers by hand.
Spray your pan with a nonstick cooking oil and scoop the batter into the pan. Smaller cake pans—like cupcake or mini bundt cake pans—work best for this batter.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 28 minutes for small bundt cakes; less for cupcakes; more for a larger cake. Let the cakes cool until the pan is warm to the touch and then remove them by flipping the pan over.
While the cakes cool, make the whipped cream. Combine cream, sugar, and vanilla in electric mixer. Beat on medium high speed until it becomes thick, with soft but stiff peaks.
Slice the strawberries.
Just before eating, dust with powdered sugar and garnish with a generous dollop of whipped cream. Top with sliced strawberries.
Gluten-Free Flour Mix Recipe
1 1/2 cups white or brown rice flour
1 1/2 cups tapioca starch or sweet rice flour
1/3 teaspoon xanthan gum
© 2019 Omega Institute for Holistic Studies
