Firstly, this is not my recipe. It was circulating around social media…you know one of those posts that is shared by everyone ~ thus giving a nice boost of free marketing to its creator ~ [the] reluctantentertainer[dot]com who named it Downton Abbey Lavender Tea Bread. Well I’m calling it a Lavender loaf…as it’s made in a loaf pan, slices like banana loaf ~ lemon loaf ~ meat loaf ~ you get my drift?

I assembled utensils and ingredients and began:

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Would you like a slice?

 

The Downton Abbey Lavender Tea Bread recipe (Lavender Loaf) was a success.

But there are a couple things I recommend:

1. The recipe called for 2 Tbsp of dried lavender (which is A LOT) ~ I used 1 Tbsp of Lavender Hill Hippie culinary lavender which was more than sufficient. Next time, when using Lavender Hill Hippie Culinary Lavender, I would use even less (1 tsp for a milder lavender-tasting loaf to 1 tbsp for a stronger lavender-tasking loaf).
2. In my electric oven the recommended 45-50 minutes bake time at 325 degrees F was not long enough. At 50 minutes when the toothpick I inserted into the loaf came out raw I decided to switch my oven to Convection Bake and baked the loaf for another 10 minutes. In these 10 minutes the loaf browned up lovely and the toothpick emerged dry when tested. Next time, I think I would choose to Convection Bake for the duration.

Other thoughts:

• use lavender sugar in the recipe and omit lavender from the milk
• strain the lavender buds from the milk
• top with a glaze made from lavender icing sugar
• store in an air-tight container in the fridge…I noticed that while photographing the loaf that the sliced pieces began to dry out more quickly than anticipated

This is a very easy recipe with readily-accessible ingredients ~ that is if you have culinary lavender in your spice cupboard. The recipe comes together quickly, bakes in under an hour, slices nicely and presents well.

Its texture is of a dense, slightly grainy/crumbly cake but it holds together when sliced. The lavender flavour is present with no other flavouring undertones… the vanilla extract (and I used the real thing not flavoured vanilla) is lost. This perhaps in part because of the amount of lavender used. This I think could be improved by lessening the quantity of lavender or alternately balancing the lavender taste with another such as lemon & lavender ~ which I am anxious to try.

~ thanks for checking in…if you need culinary lavender I grow, harvest, dry, clean and sell culinary lavender at local markets and online through the Rustic Lavender Boutique.