It’s my birthday and I’ll make a scone cake if I want to!!!! Okay, let’s go through a few of the birthday cakes on my blog because some of them make me laugh (those pictures from old posts, oy) and others I wish I could be eating right now. I’ll let you guess which is which. There’s the dairy free rainbow layer cake that put my blog on the map, chocolate olive oil bacon cake made by the illustrious Molly Yeh, watermelon cantaloupe mini layer cake because I was being super healthy and a gluten free mini chocolate layer cake with strawberry rhubarb filling….just to name a few. So now I’m adding this lemon lavender scone cake to the list because Eitan Bernath’s peanut butter chocolate chip cookie cakes inspired me to make ginormous scones instead of cake (he hates cake, which I still think is crazy but who am I to judge?!?). You can make these into regular sized scones but I will always prefer an oversized scone. Always!
I love keeping dried lavender on my kitchen counter because it is so fragrant! A little goes a long way when you bake with it though so please keep that in mind.
The less you work with the dough, the flakier the scone will be. That same rule applies to pie crust and biscuits. So relax on the kneading and just form that beautiful dough into a ball.
Brush the dough with coconut milk and sprinkle with turbinado sugar for a golden brown crust. Can you see all the flecks of lemon zest and lavender in that dough???
Golden brown and flakey! My favorite words.
For the filling, you can use your favorite buttercream, whipped cream or coconut cream. And hey, no one said you can’t add other fillings in there like toasted coconut and dried fruit.
Happy 34th birthday to me! Man, I love wishing myself a happy birthday. Let’s make the entire month of May birthday month, shall we?
Lemon Lavender Scone Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup coconut milk + extra for brushing on scones
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 egg
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter or vegan butter spread, chilled and cubed
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 Tbsp lemon zest
- 2 tsp dried lavender buds
- !Garnish
- turbinado sugar
- frosting of your choice; buttercream, whipped cream or coconut cream
- blueberries
- lemon zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. and line two greased 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, vanilla and eggs and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Rub the chilled butter into the flour mixture using a pastry blender or your hands. The butter should be small pieces no bigger than a pea. Add the sugar, lemon zest and lavender and lightly toss to combine.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the coconut milk mixture. Gently bring the dough together using a spatula or your hands. Fold the dough over itself until it comes together but try not to mess with it too much. The less you mess with the dough, the flakier the scones will be.
- Split the dough in half and lightly press each piece into one of the parchment lined cake pans. Brush with more coconut milk and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
- Bake scones for 15-20 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. Place on a wire rack to cool completely before assembling the cake.
- To assemble, place one scone on a platter and add some frosting or whipped cream. Top with remaining scone then pile on the frosting or whipped cream, blueberries and lemon zest. Enjoy!
