Lemon Poppy Seed Strawberry Cake with Lavender Whipped Cream

By meganvt01 • April 22, 2012 • 2 Comments

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Lemon Poppy Seed Strawberry Cake with Lavender Whipped Cream — 1 of 2 Photo by meganvt01

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Author Notes: My mom's birthday was fast approaching and I asked her what she wanted - and of course, ever the benevolent grandmother - she suggested "whatever Ben (grandson) will eat." Anyone with a 2 year old knows that if it has the word "cake" in it, kids will gobble it up. I wanted to gear this dessert to my Mom's tastes - not too sweet. So I started with an old Joy of Cooking cake recipe and lessened the sugar, whipped up the egg whites to make it very light, and added a ton of lemon. Strawberries in the center work to balance out the rich lavender whipped cream. If you are unsure of using lavender - you may want to use a bit less than I suggested. For timing purposes - steep the lavender in the cream first, then let it cool while you bake and cool the cakes. - meganvt01

Makes 1 cake

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

3 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 sticks unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs (room temperature)
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1/3 cup sugar

Sift the dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, baking powder, salt). Mix the wet ingredients in another bowl (milk, vanilla, lemon juice, lemon zest).
On high speed: Beat the butter until it is light and creamy. Add 1 1/2 cups sugar a beat until it is nice, light, yellow color. (I used my stand mixer but you can use a regular mixer).
On medium speed: Alternate adding 1/3 of the dry ingredients and 1/3 of the wet ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture; beating just until combined each time. Repeat until all of the wet and dry ingredients are added.
In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar until they form stiff peaks.
Carefully fold the whipped egg whites into the cake batter.
Distribute the batter evenly into 2 9-inch prepared cake pans.
In a preheated 350 degree oven, bake until the cakes are set (30 -35 minutes). Cool completely.

Lavender Whipped Cream and Cake Assembly

2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon lavender (buds of the flowers, dried)
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pint strawberries, sliced

In a sauce pan add the cream and lavender. Bring to a mere simmer and remove from heat. Steep for 5 minutes - testing the flavor of the cream and stopping when you like the level of lavender. Strain the lavender from the cream. Cool completely in the refrigerator
Whip the cream to stiff peaks, add sugar and vanilla. We used a mix of blue and red food coloring to make the cream lavender colored (the 2-year-old helping insisted) but you can leave it white if you prefer.
Place one layer of the cake on a plate. Add 1 - 2 cups whipped cream. Cover with strawberries. Top with next layer of cake. Cover the entire cake with whipped cream and decorate with strawberries.