Lavender & Rhubarb Cake

Ingredients:

Cake:

6 eggs

pinch of salt

175g caster sugar

150g plain flour

125g butter

2 tsp lavender buds

Filling:

8x foot long rhubarb stalks

200g caster sugar

50g butter

1 heaped tbsp cornflour

3 eggs

red food colouring

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160C.
2. Place the eggs, salt and sugar into a mixing bowl and whisk until there is lots of air in the mix and it almost stands in peaks.
3. Melt the butter and sieve the flour, then add them and the lavender buds to the mix, folding in gently.
4. Split the mix between 3 cake tins.
5. Bake for about 15 minutes, until golden brown and the skewer comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing from the tins to cool completely.
7. Chop the rhubarb into centimetre slices and add to a pan with 50g caster sugar, place a lid on the pan and heat gently for 5-10 minutes, occasionally stirring, until the rhubarb is well stewed.
8. Sieve the stewed rhubarb to remove the pulp, you will need to push it through the sieve to maximise the juice you get from the fruit (ideally you require about 200ml).
9. Melt the butter in a clean saucepan.
10. Mix the cornflour with a little of the rhubarb juice. 
11. Add the cornflour, rhubarb juice, lightly beaten eggs and sugar to the pan with the butter and heat gently, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens.
12. If necessary add some red food colouring to get the pink colour.
13. Allow the rhubarb curd to cool, then place the first layer of cake onto a plate, spread a third of the rhubarb curd on top, place a second cake on top, spread another third of the curd on top, add the final cake and spread the rest of the curd on top. Sprinkle with a few lavender buds for decoration & if available a sprig of lavender.

Lavender Hand Cream Recipe

My hands require lots of TLC, they're always cleaning, washing, gardening and I have never really found a commercial hand cream I am happy with so I thought I'd have a go at making my own with pure natural ingredients...

Ingredients:

100ml sweet almond oil
2 heaped tbsps coconut oil
2-3 tbsps olive oil
1.5oz grated beeswax
35 drops of lavender essential oil

Method:

1. Heat the oils together until warm.
2. Take off the heat & stir in the grated beeswax.
3. Place in the fridge for 5-10 mins to begin cooling.
4. Add the lavender and mix well, it will start to thicken so place into a jar to cool completely.

It smells divide & only a little is required each time it's used.

Strawberries & Lavender in my Garden

Ok, so I am a rubbish gardener....I hate getting my hands mucky, but I decided I had to do something with the cat-poo (not my cats!) infested pebbles & overgrown weeds in the pots outside the front door.

A few days ago, I impulsively bought some strawberry and lavender plants which I wanted to plant in my pots...

Strawberry plants in their pot

Lavender in my wheelbarrow

As you can see in the latter photo I have also scattered dried chilli flakes & lemon juice to try to deter the cats from pooping there. I have also read that cats don't like lavender so hopefully that will help as well as I am fed up of coming out of my house to be blessed with the smell of cat poo.