Provincial Lavender and Honey Cake

Below is a honey and lavender bundt I prepared for my children. They are dairy and gluten intolerant, so I have made accordingly – it would possibly taste better with softened butter to replace the oil, cows' milk, and a light country wheat flour to replace my gluten free mix. It's a recipe following my post on cooking with lavender, and its multitude of culinary uses.

Don't you love a little Provincial inspiration?

Ingredients 

• 4 cups (Schar Patisserie) gluten free flour 
• 8 tsp gluten free baking powder 
• ¾ cup rice milk 
• ¾ cup canola (rapeseed) oil 
• 1 tsp salt 
• ½ tsp vanilla 
• 1 cup honey 
• 3 eggs 
• 2 tsp lavender buds (or 3-4 full flowers) 

frosting: 

• 1 tsp honey 
• 1 cup icing sugar 
• 1-2 tbsp boiling water 
• a few drops of red and blue food colouring (You will probably need more red than blue, as the latter is usually stronger.) 

(note: metric measurements)

1. Put lavender and rice milk in a saucepan on the stove and set at a medium heat. Preheat oven to 180. 
2. Beat eggs and oil until smooth, then add honey, vanilla and finally the rest of the dry ingredients, until you only have one cup of flour left. 
3. Milk should be gently simmering by now and have a good lavender flavour. Strain, then add slowly to the cake mix, alternating with the final cup of flour. 
4. Pour into a greased bundt tin or cake tin, and cook for 35 minutes or 50 minutes respectively, or until cake tests done with a spike. 
5. Cool, then whisk up frosting ingredients and pour over cake. If desired, sprinkle with lavender buds. 

Note: the honey does not need to be lavender honey. In fact, if you do use lavender honey, please use less lavender in the milk infusion to compensate. Lavender has a very strong flavor and it can overwhelm easily.