Baking: lemon and lavender drizzle cakes recipe

I love lavender, but I'd only used lavender essential oil in cooking (try beating a few drops in to good-quality vanilla ice cream). I'd eaten lavender-topped cakes from Konditor & Cook, and then my mum gave me some dried edible lavender designed for culinary use, and I devised this recipe to use it. They're now one of my favourite bakes – so fragrant – and other people love them too!

These mini lemon and lavender drizzle cakes, made in muffin cases, are a delicious teatime treat.

Ingredients
• 250g unsalted butter

• 225g caster sugar

• 280g self-raising flour

• 2 level tsp baking powder

• 4 large eggs

• 4tbsp milk

• finely grated rind of 2 lemons

• ½ tbsp dried lavender flowers

For the topping:
• 150g granulated sugar

• juice of 2 lemons

• 1 tsp dried lavender flowers

You will need...

16 muffin-sized paper cake cases

Preheat the oven to 150ºC/300ºF. Place paper muffin cases in a muffin tin.

Place all the cake ingredients in a large bowl and beat until well blended. Spoon into the muffin cases. 
Bake for 20-25 mins until the tops of the cakes are golden brown.

While the cakes are cooling, mix the sugar, lemon juice and lavender. While the cakes are still slightly warm, spoon the topping evenly over the cakes.

This recipe first appeared on Allaboutyou.com, where I used to work. It was a great website, with lots of top-quality content, including a few recipes by me. Unfortunately, it was closed in January 2015.

Lovely lavender

You can almost hear the bees buzzing. No, it's not Provence, but a field near Sevenoaks, Kent. I wish my own two lavender bushes had been as prolific with the flowers, although apparently 2013's lavender harvest is a bumper one. Good job I've still got loads of dried lavender from previous years. Now shall I make another 'fuck off, moths' lavender bag?

Colourful contrast; colourful language

I've tried cross-stitch about twice in the past, not too impressively. So this time, I decided to use more strands of the thread. As my design was words, I googled 'cross stitch pattern generator' - there are loads of results. You type in the text you want, choose your font, print and stitch!
I did a little of mine on the train home, getting some curious glances. One woman definitely thinking, 'no, she's not actually sewing the word "fuck", is she?' To which I would say: in the case of clothes moths, the destructive little monsters, it's entirely appropriate!
I love the contrast between the old-fashioned charm of a homemade lavender bag, decorated with 'colourful' language.
The fabric bag is made from offcuts of a skirt I made in the summer. The lavender is from our allotment, augmented with a couple of pieces of cotton wool dripped with lavender oil. I made this one for a friend's birthday, and another has asked for one too. And my other half fancies one for his half of the wardrobe. Lots more cross-stitch on the commute then...