With the 4th of July holiday this weekend, as well as my friend Adam's legendary Rib Fest celebration (more to come on that this week), I wanted to bake something special--not only in the spirit of the holiday but something that would make the aftertaste of ribs that much sweeter.
I got inspired by the above blueberry-lemon squares once again from a fellow Foodbuzzer, Only Nature Food Porn. Funny name. Cool blog. His beautiful blueberry squares decorated with fresh blueberries and lavender really enticed me. I was especially interested in using fresh lavender flowers on my squares, as they're edible and look really beautiful. There's plenty of lavender over at friend's, Kim and Ken's garden and since my mom and dad and taking care of it while they're on vacation, we borrowed some for this recipe. Kim, if you're reading this, I hope you don't mind!
The actual cake was a breeze to make, aside from the fact that I had to convert all measurements from the Metric system. It's actually quite simple and you can use the following online converter.
I loved that the flavor of the cake was extra lemony because in addition to putting lemon zest into the dough, I also poured lemon juice on top, after it was baked. The frosting was a cinch as well, consisting of powdered sugar and fresh lemon juice. Easy, breezy.
Now the difficult part was the topping. I waited too long for the frosting to set and had a hard time putting the blueberries on top. In the end, I got it done but the delicate little lavender flowers didn't cooperate. So I ended up using them as a garnish instead.
Try it out for yourself. It's a great summertime dessert and it received high marks at Ribfest - actually it didn't make it out on to the serving table since everyone gobbled it up upon its reveal.
I got inspired by the above blueberry-lemon squares once again from a fellow Foodbuzzer, Only Nature Food Porn. Funny name. Cool blog. His beautiful blueberry squares decorated with fresh blueberries and lavender really enticed me. I was especially interested in using fresh lavender flowers on my squares, as they're edible and look really beautiful. There's plenty of lavender over at friend's, Kim and Ken's garden and since my mom and dad and taking care of it while they're on vacation, we borrowed some for this recipe. Kim, if you're reading this, I hope you don't mind!
The actual cake was a breeze to make, aside from the fact that I had to convert all measurements from the Metric system. It's actually quite simple and you can use the following online converter.
I loved that the flavor of the cake was extra lemony because in addition to putting lemon zest into the dough, I also poured lemon juice on top, after it was baked. The frosting was a cinch as well, consisting of powdered sugar and fresh lemon juice. Easy, breezy.
Now the difficult part was the topping. I waited too long for the frosting to set and had a hard time putting the blueberries on top. In the end, I got it done but the delicate little lavender flowers didn't cooperate. So I ended up using them as a garnish instead.
Try it out for yourself. It's a great summertime dessert and it received high marks at Ribfest - actually it didn't make it out on to the serving table since everyone gobbled it up upon its reveal.
See recipe here and enjoy.
