Marnie Searchwell

Another lush Lemon & Lavender Cake for Zainab.

Her dietary regime means she can’t have starches. Or sugar, but honey’s good. As are almonds, eggs and citrus 😅

Unfortunately, since last year, butter is banned.

Back then, I dug out my trusty copy of Red Velvet & Chocolate Heartache, by @harryeatsfood. Harry is one of my free-from food heroes – all the clever cake recipes in this book use vegetables instead of butter.

Mum and I settled on a repeat of last year’s Lemon & Lavender Cake – made with ground almonds, lemons and lavender, and sweetened with honey.

Once again, I used buckwheat flour instead of the recipe’s rice flour – Z is OK with buckwheat, but can’t tolerate rice.

Last but not least, the essential moisture-providing veggie ingredient: steamed swede, finely puréed.

I gave the hot cake a good lemon & honey syrup soak. And once cooled, I added a coconut butter frosting – big thanks to Rain’s Cozy Life on YouTube for her @vitamix technique: worked a treat!

Purple is Zainab’s favourite colour, so I decorated her cake with organically grown, unsprayed asters and a sprinkling of perovskia.

Happy Birthday, Zainab 💜💜💜

#freefrom #glutenfree #lemonlavender #edibleflowers #cakecakecake