Coconut and lavender butter cake (gluten-free)

This one is for the lovely ladies I shared last weekend’s hike with. This cake made for a buttery-soft and fluffy mid-hike snack while we took in the dappled morning light through the Trentham trees. This is also the second lavender recipe I’ve posted here, this cake being a little simpler and perhaps more aromatic than the first. Eating cake with a floral note while being deeply immersed in the bush did elicit some closed-eye happiness. I paired it with the polenta, corn and cheese mini muffins as the savoury element on our pit stop.

I’ll be running one more hike before the winter sets in, on Saturday 8 June. It will be crisp, but no doubt beautifully dewy and full of creatures finding respite from the cold. We were fortunate to see a rather large kangaroo hopping alongside the track last Saturday; a first for me on this trail. I am always gleeful at the sight of a kangaroo in the wild, so long as we keep a friendly distance from one another. I love that no matter how many times I walk this trail, it holds something different for me each time. It is a privilege to be able to share this trail with others, understanding the area was once well-trodden as the site of much logging, and long before that, a place of sacred ritual for the Dja Dja Wurrung people. Now there is a straight and flat path set in the largely regenerated forest, haphazard trees protruding from the earth in a multitude of directions, trunks and branches messily criss-crossing so that no other way through the bush apart from the path, seems possible. Friendly locals and odd visitors who have strayed from the nearby waterfalls are about the only souls to greet along the way, but otherwise it is a place where quiet and solitude in nature can be found. And maybe a lavender-scented cake.

INGREDIENTS

1 ½ cups almond meal
⅔ cup desiccated coconut
pinch of salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
4 eggs, separated
½ cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon culinary lavender (plus a little extra to finish), finely chopped*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
150 g unsalted butter, softened

METHOD

Preheat your oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 20–23 cm round or square cake pan.

Place the almond meal, coconut, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl and whisk vigorously for about 1 minute until well combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, lavender and vanilla, adding one ingredient at a time and whisking well after each addition. Add the cooled butter and whisk until blended through. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until combined.

Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form, then gently fold the whites into the batter, ensuring the mixture comes together but without over-mixing.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and give the pan a little shake to even out the mixture. Bake for about 25–30 minutes, depending on your oven, until the top is golden and a tester comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool before transferring it to a wire rack to cool fully. Dust with icing sugar and sprinkle with a little extra lavender.

Serves 10–12

* I used organic lavender flowers (the edible variety, lavandula angustifolia) from the local organic foodstore.