Cream 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup sugar together. Add 3 egg yolks (reserve the egg whites, you’re using them, too!) and beat until mixture is pale and fluffy. Add 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 3/4 teaspoon almond extract, and the zest of one lemon (avoid the pith, it’s bitter and won’t taste good in your cake). Stir until combined. Fold in 1 cup almond meal, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup cake flour and 1 teaspoon baking powder.
In a separate dry bowl, whip the three egg whites until they begin to get frothy. When they begin to get frothy, add 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar and a pinch of salt. Continue to whip until stiff peaks form. When you have stiff peaks, fold egg whites into the almond and flour mixture. Pour into a greased cake pan and bake 30 minutes at 350. Remove and let cool on wire baking rack for 15 minutes before removing the cake from the pan.
While cake is cooling, heat juice of three lemons and 1 tablespoon lavender flowers. Let steep 5 minutes, then strain to remove the flowers. Add in 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and stir to combine. Pour glaze over the cooled cake. Press lavender flowers in while the glaze is warm to decorate if you’re artsy. Otherwise, let cool about 10 minutes after the glaze is applied and serve.
Some notes: if using a stand mixer, whip the egg whites on high. Everything you read on the internet will tell you to whip them at a low to medium speed. And on a stand mixer, this will get you nowhere. With a handheld mixer, start at medium and if you don’t see progress, increase the speed slowly. You should see serious progress in just a couple of minutes and have achieved stiff peaks in about five minutes. If you’re considering whipping the egg whites by hand, good luck and God speed.
Different flavor options:
- Instead of lavender, steep fresh basil leaves in the hot lemon juice.
- Substitute orange zest in for lemon zest and fresh squeezed orange juice for the lemon juice. Omit the lavender and instead whisk a teaspoon of vanilla extract into the warm orange juice and powdered sugar. In the alternate, throw some pineapple chunks into the warm orange juice in place of the lavender.
- Substitute grapefruit zest in for lemon zest, and grapefruit juice and fresh mint for the lemon and lavender.
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