Please Note: This post was updated on Wed., Aug. 11, 2010.
During the weekend, a visit was scheduled to help a girlfriend who recently moved into an apartment. I can sympathize with anyone’s move. I once moved three times in one year. The experience of packing and unpacking is exhaustive. Being upended from familiar friends, a neighborhood and an apartment are unsettling. Moving has never been a good transition. I have the personal horror stories to validate horrid feelings.
It is with this understanding; a visit was canceled because of a family emergency. A few hours later, when we visited the other friend in the hospital, I realized the day was meant to be. It’s a reminder of how little control we have over life. We make our decisions, but it’s all spiritually organized unbeknown to us.
One of life’s difficulties is balancing friends, family, work and so forth. Everyone is important in my life, but we can only do so much. It is important to acknowledge the people we love as much as possible. Nobody knows what tomorrow will decide.
Another date was rescheduled with my girlfriend, and I thank her for politely for accepting my cancellation with a happy grace. As an offering of peace and as a housewarming gift, I made Lavender Pound Cake. I also brought bottle of Prosecco, too.
The decision to make Lavender Pound Cake was instant, because I happened to be walking through the Farmer’s Market at Union Square, New York City. The floral aroma lured me away from my destination toward Lavender By The Bay’s booth. The vendor was a few minutes from closing, but he was patiently charming as I requested a bag of dried lavender buds for baking. He went through a packed box to find a bag. The timing was perfect; because my supply of dried lavender buds were perilously low. The price was right for $5.00. A couple days later a sweet friend was happy with her housewarming gift.
Lavender Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 c. butter
- 2-1/4 c. sugar
- 5 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 tbsp. dried lavender
- 3 c. sifted all-purpose flour
- 6 oz. (3/4 c.) lemon-lime soda*
- 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Directions
- Grease and flour 10 in. bundt or tube cake pan. Preheat oven to 325°F.
- In a food processor, process lavender flowers with 1/2 cup of sugar. Then mix lavender sugar into the rest of the sugar.
- Cream butter and lavender sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy (less than 3 minutes).
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated.
- Add a third of the flour to the cake batter and beat until just incorporated. Add half the soda to the cake batter, and beat until just incorporated. Repeat this step ending with adding the last thirds of the flour to the cake batter.
- Stir lemon juice and vanilla extract until just incorporated.
- Pour batter into prepared cake pan, smoothing top. Bake 1 to 1.25 hours (different ovens will vary times). After cake is removed from oven, cool for 10 min. Invert carefully on plate and dust with powdered sugar.
Note
* Avoid artificially flavored sodas.