Blackberry Lavender Almond Cake

This Blackberry Lavender Almond Cake is made with almond extract and topped with blackberry lavender mascarpone whipped cream icing. It’s a naked cake filled with delicious icing in between each layer, then topped with sliced almonds and fresh blackberries for good measure. 

IT’S MY BIRTHDAY and I’ll eat cake all day if I want to. This blackberry lavender almond cake is essentially the cake of my dreams—it’s all my favorite flavors combined into ONE delicious cake recipe. Likewise, it has the BEST texture ever, especially the icing.

Twenty seven brought about a lot of exciting things, the most exciting being that we bought a house! Owning a home was something I thought would happen eventually, but never at 27, and I still feel so grateful to be able to live in a house. I’ve learned that it’s a lot more work than an apartment, but also just better—more space inside, a little yard outside, and room to make it feel like my own.

I don’t know what 28 has in store for me, but I’m excited to find out. If nothing else, hopefully more cake! 

WHY THIS LAVENDER CAKE IS SO GOOD

• It’s a naked cake, so you don’t have to spend a ton of time icing it
• It’s filled with MASCARPONE icing, aka the BEST kind of icing (if you haven’t tried it, you must!)
• It’s naturally purple in color thanks to the blackberries and lavender (though feel free to add extra purple food coloring if you want). 

This almond cake is perfectly almond-y (the way almond desserts should be) thanks to almond extract. 

I was being very indecisive about what kind of icing I wanted to make (buttercream? Meringue?) but ultimately decided that a mascarpone-based icing was the most “me”. To clarify, mascarpone IS my favorite kind of icing (at least at the current moment) and you may have noticed I’ve used it several times before. Originally, I created just a lavender icing, but found that the color wasn’t purple, and I really wanted pink-purple icing, so I decided to add blackberries in addition to the lavender. Talk about a good decision! 

TIPS FOR MAKING THIS LAVENDER CAKE

• This cake bakes in 30-35 minutes, but of course you’ll want to keep an eye on it since every oven is different. You’ll know it’s done when a toothpick comes out clean.
• Place round parchment paper in the bottom of your cake pans to assure the cake doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. You can purchase round parchment paper like this, or you can cut circles out of traditional parchment.
• For the icing, you can use fresh OR frozen blackberries–either works, since you’ll be making a blackberry lavender syrup. 

Before making the icing, you’ll have to make the blackberry lavender “juice” by essentially making a blackberry lavender simple syrup, then straining the blackberries and lavender. It’s super simple and only takes about 10 minutes. You may notice I’ve used this method before. For example, in my almond dutch baby recipe, the blueberry glaze is made similarly. It’s an easy way to get beautifully-colored icing. 

WHERE CAN I BUY CULINARY LAVENDER?

You can buy it at some grocery stories (I know Fresh Thyme sells it), or at a local tea shop. Likewise, you can purchase some online (this kind will work perfectly!). Like I said, the icing is mascarpone-based, but I really wanted it to be light and fluffy, which is why I originally thought of doing meringue.  But, ultimately I decided that I wanted to combine whipped cream and mascarpone and oh my gosh the texture is my fave. 

CAN I MAKE THE ICING AHEAD OF TIME?

Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend it only because the purple coloring tends to lose some of the purple the longer it sits out. Instead, make the cake ahead of time, then wait 2-4 hours before you want to eat or serve the cake to make the icing. Since you’re not covering the whole cake with icing, actually icing it doesn’t take long at all!

OTHER CAKE RECIPES

• vegan vanilla cake
• vegan birthday cake
• chocolate avocado cake

Blackberry Lavender Almond Cake

This blackberry lavender almond cake is made with almond extract and topped with blackberry lavender mascarpone whipped cream icing.

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Prep Time: 35 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 7 hours 38 minutes

Servings: 1 cake

Author: Erin

Ingredients

for the cake:

• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup butter softened
• 2 cups+2 tbsp sugar
• 4 eggs room temperature
• 1/3 cup coconut oil melted
• 1 1/2 cups almond milk or milk of choice
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tsp almond extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Optional: toasted almonds and/or blackberries for topping

for the blackberry lavender syrup:

• 1 container 6 oz. blackberries
• 2 tbsp culinary lavender
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water

for the icing:

• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 8 oz. mascarpone
• 1/2 cup blackberry lavender syrup
• Optional: purple food coloring**

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°. Grease three 8" cake pans and set aside*
• Combine flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside.
• In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar together; then, add eggs, oil, milk, water, almond extract, and vanilla extract and stir to combine.
• Last, combine wet and dry ingredients then pour batter evenly into cake pans.
• Bake cakes for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Wait 10 minutes or so, then carefully invert cakes onto a cooling rack and wait for them to cool completely before icing.
• While cakes are cooling, make the syrup. Add all ingredients to a saucepan and bring mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and simmer for 10 minutes, using a wooden spoon or spatula to break down the blackberries. After 10 minutes, pour mixture through a fine mesh strainer, saving the juice or syrup (whatever you want to call it) and discarding the blackberries and lavender. Set syrup aside.
• For the icing: whisk whipping cream for approximately 5 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Then, add the sugar and mascarpone and whisk again for another minute before adding in the blackberry lavender syrup. The icing should be soft and fluffy like whipped cream.
• To assemble: set one of the cakes on your cake stand, then place a dollop of icing on top and use a rubber spatula to smooth icing out, then place a second cake on top and repeat this process. Feel free to add toasted almonds and/or blackberries on top of the top cake for added flavor and texture.
• Cut and enjoy!

Notes

*I like to use circular parchment paper on the bottom of my pans to make sure the cake doesn't stick. You can buy circle parchment paper or simply trace your pie pans and cut circles out. It makes the cake-making process a little longer but I can always rest easy knowing my cakes are going to easily come out of the pans.

**Feel free to add a little purple food coloring if you want the icing to be more purple.

***I DON'T recommend making the icing ahead of time, simply because the purple coloring can change colors if it's left out too long. Since the cake only has icing in between the layers, the actual icing part doesn't take long at all! You can still make the cake ahead of time, just wait until a little closer to when you want to serve/eat the cake to make the icing.

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