Posted by First published 20 July 2018
Dear lovelies
I find that one of the great joys of seasonal living is anticipating nature’s bounty and enjoying it when it arrives. And when you grow, nurture and harvest the flowers, fruit and veg yourself, it is such a rewarding and pleasurable experience! I’ve convinced myself that they taste and look better too! My chamomile flowers are no exception.
Last year, I grew German chamomile which I neglected terribly (I didn’t thin them out) and that lead to a really meagre harvest. But to my surprise some of it self seeded so this year without even trying, about 8 chamomile seedlings popped out of the ground in late Spring! I repotted them, asked them to forgive me for the previous year’s poor effort and I kept an eye on them! They rewarded me by growing strong and tall and they gifted me a decent crop of little daisy-like flowers with the characteristic mustard-coloured domed centres.
I thoroughly enjoyed picking them, snapping off the flowers and popping them into my basket. One of my favourite pastimes is to pretend I am a smallholder! Brewing and drinking a cup of my homegrown chamomile tea is just bliss! It has a gorgeous aroma and a very distinct taste which lead me to think it would be a lovely flavour for a cake.
This simple recipe really does it justice, with a moist and delicious sponge and a delightfully crisp drizzle topping reminiscent of the classic lemon drizzle cake. I’ve popped the flowers into the sponge too, which means no throwing away those precious dried beauties! Use shop bought dried chamomile flowers if you haven’t any home grown – they work perfectly well too!
Ingredients:
For the cake:
8oz/225g golden caster sugar
8oz/225g unsalted butter, softened
9oz/255g self raising flour
4 large eggs
2 heaped tsp dried chamomile flowers (if shop bought, you may need to remove the stalks)
3 tbsp boiled water
For the drizzle topping:
1 heaped tsp dried chamomile flowers
3 tbsp boiled water
75g caster sugar
Method:
For the cake:
Preheat the oven to 180c (fan)
Grease the sides and base of a 20cm/8” diameter, 6cm/2.5” deep loose bottom cake tin. Line the base and dust the sides with flour.
Steep the chamomile flowers in the water and set aside to infuse.
Beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. I use a free-standing food mixer, but an electric hand mixer will suffice. You could also use muscle power.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing in a couple of spoonfuls of flour immediately after each addition to prevent the mixture from curdling.
Fold in any remaining flour, followed by the chamomile flowers and the water they have been infusing in, making sure the flowers are evenly distributed.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, smoothing the surface.
Heat in the preheated oven for 40-50 mins until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Take the cake out of the oven and pop onto a cooling rack still in it’s tin. Prepare the drizzle.
For the drizzle topping:
Infuse the chamomile flowers in the boiled water and leave for about 10 mins whilst the cake is cooling a little.
Strain the chamomile water into a small jug. You can brew yourself a proper cup of chamomile tea with the leftover buds!
Add the sugar to the water and mix.
Poke holes into the cake using a skewer and pour over the drizzle topping.
Leave to cool further in the tin.
If you are good at restraining yourself, cool the cake completely, transfer to a plate and enjoy!
If you are of the ‘there is nothing like a slice of warm sponge’ camp, take it out of the tin whilst still a little warm, transfer to a plate, cut a large slice and enjoy!
I can honestly say and if you’ll allow me to say so, this is one of the most delicious cakes I have baked so far. It is simple, moist and aromatic and I could possibly eat it all day long! I had better share it though hey lovelies?
I have another little crop of flowers almost ready to harvest so the chamomile tea will keep being brewed and the chamomile cakes will keep being baked. Chamomile is becoming a real taste of my Summer and that makes me very happy!
Well, the last weekend of the Summer term is upon us and we are all counting down the hours until school is out on Tuesday. We are so ready for the holidays!
Until next time flowers,
Lots of love,
Lucy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Lucylu dreams... 