The Best Lavender Cake

This classic lavender white cake is topped with whipped cream cheese buttercream frosting. It’s so good!

If you’re a fan of lavender like me, this will be your new favorite dessert. This recipe has three lavender parts. First, I infuse the milk with culinary lavender to make lavender milk. Then, I use the lavender extract in the batter, frosting, and brush lavender-soaking syrup over the cake.

It’s perfect for spring and summer when lavender is in full bloom. It’s also a wonderful cake for special occasions like Mother’s Day, a spring birthday party, or a simple garden party.

This special recipe is unique in flavor and one that everyone will love. Who can resist a moist and tender white cake, topped with the best lavender cream cheese buttercream? We know we can’t! Also check out my elderflower lemon cake too. It’s similar to this recipe and full of lemon flavor.

Lavender Cake Ingredients

Here are all of the ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe:

Cake Flour – Cake flour has a lower protein content than all-purpose flour and a finer, lighter texture. If you don’t have cake flour, no worries! You can make your own cake flour.

Egg Whites – Separate whole eggs and keep the egg whites. We use large, organic eggs when baking.

Whole Milk – Organic whole milk is best. Milk creates a nice texture to the cake and adds to the moist texture.

Granulated Sugar – White sugar sweetens the cake. If you want to use a different sweetener, check out these sugar substitutions.

Unsalted Butter– Use good quality, pure butter when baking. Butter creates a light and tender texture, gives the cake a buttery flavor, and also helps it rise.

Baking Powder – A dry leavening agent used to increase the volume and lighten the cake’s texture.

Vanilla Extract – Use a good quality, pure vanilla extract. You can also use vanilla bean paste. 

Lavender Extract – Similar to vanilla extract, lavender extract gives the cake a fresh lavender flavor.

Culinary Lavender – Use certified organic, 100% raw lavender flowers that are made for baking and cooking.

Lavender Syrup – While the cake is baking make the super simple lavender syrup. Just add water, sugar, and dried lavender into a small saucepan.

Let the mixture simmer for about 10 minutes until the sugar has dissolved, then remove from heat to let it cool. Once it’s cooled, strain the dried lavender out so you just have the syrup.

Whipped Lavender Cream Cheese Buttercream

This creamy, whipped frosting is simple to make. The ingredients are powdered sugar, butter, cream cheese, vanilla extract and lavender extract.

Simply add all of the ingredients into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on high until it’s nice and fluffy. It’s so creamy and will spread nicely over the baked cake.

Add more powdered sugar if you need it to be thicker.

Expert Tips For Making a Lavender Cake

• Instead of making lavender syrup, you can also buy lavender syrup.

• The longer you infuse the milk the stronger the flavor. You can even do this the day before and store it in the refrigerator.

• Use whole, good-quality ingredients when possible. For example, good quality butter and organic eggs make a big difference in the outcome of the cake. Using imitation vanilla instead of pure vanilla has an effect on the flavor.

• Room temperature ingredients are best and the butter should be soft. You can quickly do this in the microwave if you need.

• Take the extra step to prepare the baking pans so you can easily remove the cake.

• When making the cream cheese frosting, make sure the cream cheese is super soft as well as the butter. You can soften both of them in the microwave.

• Make the lavender soaking syrup and the lavender milk the day before and store in the refrigerator. 

Lavender Cake Variations

Cake Shapes – This cake can be served as a sheet cake or a layered cake. If you want a layered cake, bake the cake in round 8-inch cake pans. For our cake, we used a 9x9x3 square cake pan. You can also use a rectangular cake pan.

Lemon Lavender Cake Recipe – Add 1 tablespoon of lemon zest to the cake batter. Spread lemon curd in the center of the cake layers when making a layered cake. If you’re making a sheet cake, add lemon curd over the cake before adding the frosting.

Blackberry Lavender Cake Recipe – If you’re making a layered cake, add blackberry preserves to the bottom cake layer before adding frosting and stacking the top layer. Garnish the cake with blackberries.

Earl Grey Lavender Cake – Give the cake subtle flavors of Earl Grey by adding a teabag of Earl Grey when infusing the milk and making the lavender soaking syrup. This will give both of those liquids a nice Earl Grey flavor which will be used to make the cake.