Rosie Makes: Apricot, Lavender and Honey Cakes

This Tuesday marks the Summer Solstice or Litha in the Celtic Wheel of the Year. It’s the longest day and shortest night and the beginning of many Summer baking adventures to come. To celebrate, I wanted to create something that just sings of Summer – and came up with these apricot, lavender and honey cakes. The stone fruit is given an aromatic twist with the lavender and lifted by the sweet honey. To make them, you will need:

120g butter
2 tsp dried culinary lavender
80g brown sugar
40g caster sugar
60g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
6 apricots, halved

For the glaze:
40g honey
1 tsp dried culinary lavender

First, make the lavender honey. Add the lavender to the honey and melt together – either in a microwave in short bursts or in a small pan over a very low heat. Set aside to infuse.

Preheat the oven to 160C Fan and grease two bun tins (or you can use them twice like I did). Beat the butter and culinary lavender together in a stand mixer for around 5 minutes to release the lavender oils.

Add the sugars and beat for a further few minutes until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time with a little flour, then fold in the rest of the flour. Add a tablespoonful of mixture to each hole in the bun tin (it depends on the size of your tin, but you want it to come no more than two thirds up the side of the hole). Add an apricot half on top of each, pressing down lightly.

Bake in the oven for 12 – 15 minutes. Once golden and cooked through, remove from the oven and set aside to cool for a few minutes. While the cakes are still warm, remove from the tin carefully with a knife, place on a wire rack and brush the top of each cake with the lavender honey. Set aside to cool completely.

Recipe by me.