Learn how to make the best lavender honey cake with this easy recipe. This honey-sweetened cake is flavoured with ground lavender buds to add a floral flavour to the cake and topped with honey-sweetened whipped cream.
This cake recipe follows the standard 1-2-3-4 cake formula, meaning the baking ratio of ingredients is 1 cup butter, 2 cups sugar, 3 cups flour, and 4 eggs. To accommodate the small cake pan and create one single layer, a half batch of the 1-2-3-4 cake recipe is needed to fill the pan without overflowing.
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What You Need to Make a Cake Sweetened With Honey
- honey—opt for honey with a lot of flavour and character. I use either Greek honey or local autumn honey that is darker and flavourful
- butter—this recipe was developed with unsalted butter. If using salted butter, you may want to adjust the salt in the recipe to avoid the cake being too salty
- sugar—I prefer to make this cake with white granulated sugar, not brown sugar as brown sugar will impart too much flavour that will interfere with the delicate taste of honey and lavender
- eggs—all the recipes on this site are tested with large eggs. If using smaller or larger eggs, this will affect the texture of the cake.
- flour—I bake with regular bleached all-purpose flour. This cake will likely work with unbleached flour, though the texture may be a little less fluffy.
- leavening agents—this cake recipe calls for baking powder, not baking soda. Read about baking soda versus baking powder if you aren't sure the difference.
- salt—I bake with Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If you are using regular table salt, you may want to add half the amount to avoid the cake being too salty
- lavender buds—use culinary-grade lavender buds. Do not use lavender that is for household use for adding scent to rooms as this may be laced with fragrances that aren't edible
- milk—the liquid for this cake is whole milk (3.25 % fat) - I prefer full-fat milk which lends a little more fat to the cake to help it stay moist
- optional garnish—I topped the cake with honey-sweetened whipped cream made from 35 % fat whipping cream, mascarpone, and honey. This is optional but adds an extra layer of texture and flavour creating an elegant dessert.
Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions and Variations
- tea—instead of lavender buds, you could also try Earl Grey tea with bergamot. Crush the tea in a mortar and pestle to turn it into a fine powder
- milk—I prefer to bake with whole milk (3.25 % fat) but 2 % milk will also work fine. Skim milk is virtually fat free and will also work, but the cake may be a tiny bit less moist
- dairy-free—you can replace the butter with unsalted vegan butter and the milk with unsweetened soy milk. You can replace the whipped cream topping with honey-sweetened coconut whipped cream
How to Make a Honey Cake
This one-layer cake is simple to make, like any standard layer cake, using the creaming mixing method. Here's how to make this honey-sweetened cake:
Step 1—Grind the lavender in a mortar and pestle to turn the flower buds into a fine powdery hay-like texture (image 1) then whisk it into the flour along with the baking powder and salt (image 2).
Step 2—Combine the butter, honey and granulated sugar in the stand mixer bowl with a paddle attachment (image 3) and cream the three ingredients until light and fluffy before adding the eggs one at a time and the vanilla (image 4).
Step 3—Add the dry ingredients (image 5) alternating with the milk (image 6), beginning and ending with dry to create a fluffy smooth batter (image 7). Don't overmix it.
Step 4—Transfer the cake batter to a parchment paper-lined butter and floured round cake pan (image 8) and spread it with a mini offset spatula (image 9).
Step 5—Make sure the batter is levelled and smoothed from edge to edge (image 10) before baking until golden brown and set (image 11). The edges will begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.
Step 6—You can serve the cake plain drizzled with honey, but I like to also top it with mascarpone whipped cream sweetened with a little honey (image 12).
Tip: the honey-sweetened whipped cream can be made following the same recipe as the maple whipped cream, but replacing the maple syrup with honey. How much honey you add is entirely up to you. Since I was planning to also drizzle honey on top of the cream to decorate it, I only added 30 grams (1 oz) of honey to sweeten it.
Honey Cake Baking Tip
The fun thing about crystallized honey is that you can heat it (in the microwave or a saucepan) and the gritty honey melts and becomes smooth and fluid again.
Of course, this is only temporary. As it cools, the honey slowly crystallizes again Remember, sugar syrups tend to crystallize (as does honey) because they have such a high concentration of sugar molecules.
Baking With Honey FAQs
Baked goods sweetened with honey tend to brown in the oven faster than baked goods made with regular sugar. For this reason, I bake honey-sweetened cakes at 325 °F (165 °C) instead of 350°F (175 °C) to slow the browning process.
More Easy Elegant Cake Recipes
I love single-layer cakes (also called one-layer cakes) because they are the picture of elegance mixed with ease. Here are a few other one-layer cake recipes to try:
If you tried this recipe for the best lavender honey cake (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
📖 Recipe
Lavender Honey Cake
Ingredients
Honey cake
- 8 grams dried lavender culinary grade
- 190 grams bleached all-purpose flour
- 5 mL baking powder
- 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
- 170 grams honey
- 115 grams unsalted butter room temperature
- 100 grams granulated sugar
- 2 large egg(s) room temperature
- 5 mL pure vanilla extract
- 125 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat)
Honey whipped cream (optional)
- 160 mL whipping cream (35 % fat) cold
- 75 grams mascarpone cheese
- 30 grams honey plus a little extra to drizzle on the finished cake
- dried lavender for decorating
Instructions
Honey cakes
- Preheat the oven to 325 °F (165 °C). Prepare an 8-inch cake pan by buttering and flouring it, and lining the bottom with a round of parchment paper. Set it aside for later.
- Grind the lavender buds in a mortar and pestle to turn them into a fine hay-like powder.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ground lavender buds, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the honey, sugar, and butter until it is light and fluffy. You can also use an electric hand mixer for this recipe!
- Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing in between each addition, and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla.
- Add one-third the flour, then half the milk, another third of flour, then the rest of the milk, and the rest of the flour, mixing between each addition, and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix the batter until all the ingredients are combined.
- Transfer the batter into the prepared pan and smooth it out from edge-to-edge.
- Bake until the cake is golden brown and set, testing with a cake tester inserted into the centre of the cake. This cake will take about 45 minutes to bake through.
- Set aside to cool for 15 minutes before unmoulding on a wire rack to cool completely.
Honey whipped cream (optional)
- Combine the cold cream, mascarpone, and honey in a large bowl and whip until firm peaks form.
- Place the cooled cake on a large plate, removing the parchment paper from the bottom. Spread the whipped cream on top and then drizzle with honey and sprinkle with lavender buds.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- Make sure to use culinary grade lavender that is edible, not lavender you may find for potpouri.
- Opt for honey with a lot of flavour and character. I use either Greek honey or a local autumn honey that is darker and flavourful.
- Subtitutions and variations
- tea—instead of lavender buds, you could also try Earl Grey tea with bergamot. Crush the tea in a mortar and pestle to turn it into a fine powder
- milk—I prefer to bake with whole milk (3.25 % fat) but 2 % milk will also work fine. Skim milk is virtually fat free and will also work, but the cake may be a tiny bit less moist
- dairy-free—you can replace the butter with unsalted vegan butter and the milk with unsweetened soy milk. You can replace the whipped cream topping with honey-sweetened coconut whipped cream
Lindsey @ Hot Polka Dot says
Yum yum yum! I love it! Thanks for your kind words about my blog and your photos look lovely. 🙂
Eftychia says
What a delicious dessert! Thanks for sharing!
Jan says
I'd love to see (and be included in) a lavender round-up! It's such a fun flavor! Thanks!
Spice Sherpa says
The name alone drew me in--lavender honey cakelettes. I just like saying it! Lovely recipe and I adore the use of lavender as a key flavor. Bookmarking this one! I've run across a few great lavender recipe posts. I ought to make a lavender recipe link compendium as a post--this one will definitely be included.
Joy says
The cakes look wonderful. I love this recipe.
Hanna says
Beautiful little cakelettes! Crystalized honey is amazing, I'm a straight from the jar with a spoon kind of person too!
Juanita says
I like your list of confessions. Instead of "Hail Mary's", hand out some teaspoons of crystallized honey to yourself 🙂
Your cakelettes are charming!