Lemon Lavender tea loaves: bake Mom something special
These lovely little lemon lavender tea loaves, flavored with bright lemon and a hint of lavender are giftable little tender tea cakes with the delicate pastel beauty perfect for Mother’s Day.
This is a one-bowl recipe that yields a moist lemony floral quick bread ideal for pairing with citrusy teas like Earl Grey.
| Active time | Total time | Yield | Difficulty |
| 15 min | 45 min | 8 mini loaves | Easy |
After making my pistachio lemon bread, I had some thoughts to create another two-tone bread, and lemon lavender was the first option to come to mind. Using Color Kitchen natural food colors , I created a subtle pale purple effect to compliment the lavender color.
Why you should give lemon lavender bread a try
- You can make it with a spoon: No fancy equipment is needed here: I guess you need to melt your butter in a cup (microwave!), but other than that, this is a one-bowl operation.
- Interesting, subtle flavors: If you read “lavender” and thought, “This probably tastes like a bar of soap,” you’d be wrong. Yes it’s true that lavender, like all flowers can be overpowering in baked goods, when you use just a little, as we do here, you get the benefit of mysterious flavor that makes the lemon come alive. If you enjoy teas with floral accents or whole flowers, you’ll love this bread.
- Mini Loaves are too cute: Like my mini banana bread loaves or my gingerbread banana bundt cakes, quick breads baked in smaller molds have that “AWWWW” cute factor that makes these irresistible. Tiny bunnies, baby chicks, flower buds, and baby tea loaves all go together in my mind.
- Perfect for Spring: These would be so cute in Easter baskets, at baby showers, as a bake for a Spring mother-daughter tea party, Mother’s Day, or as simple gifts for teacher appreciation.
Ingredients for Lemon Lavender tea loaves
Lavender Lemon bread
- Granulated sugar
- Grated lemon zest
- Food grade dried lavender
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Butter
- Lemon juice
- Greek yogurt
- Large eggs
- Natural blue food coloring: Color Kitchen natural food colors (optional), or a few drops of violet gel coloring
- Beet powder (optional)
Quick Lemon glaze
- Powdered sugar
- Lemon juice
- Vanilla extract
- Grated lemon zest
- Food grade dried lavender
Equipment needed
- mini loaf pan or 9 x 5 pan: a silicone 8-well mini loaf pan is very helpful here.
- cookie scoop (helpful, but you can use a spoon)
Do I have to use the natural food coloring?
No, you don’t. I’ve been experimenting with Color Kitchen natural food colors on and off for about a year, and I know that the blue color does a good job in baked goods. All of these natural food colors do great unbaked or baked at lower temperatures (as in meringues). In frostings, these colors are bright and vibrant and positively lovely.
For this bread, I combined the blue color with beet powder . The color is perhaps more than I’d like, but I appreciate that there is no added taste in these colors and that the color comes from plants, not chemicals.
If you don’t want to buy a set of the colors and have some violet gel color, that will also work in this recipe, or you could skip the color entirely.
Step by step directions
See the recipe card below for the full step by step instructions.
- Line: Spray a mini loaf pan pan (mine has 8 wells) with cooking spray. If you want to use a 9 x 5” loaf pan, spray it and then line the bottom with parchment .
- Whiz: Grind lemon zest and lavender with the sugar in a small coffee grinder . The tiny pieces of ground lavender will make sure that you don’t get a bite accidentally of all the lavender!
- Mix the dry ingredients: Stir the flour with the lemon lavender sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle of the bowl.
- Mix the wet ingredients: Melt the butter in a small pan or microwave it in a cup. Pour in the eggs, lemon juice, and yogurt and the butter over the dry ingredients. Lightly whisk the eggs with a fork to break them up, and then gradually whisk the eggs into the rest of the wet ingredients. Mix everything until the flour just disappears.
- Layer the batter: Place a scoop of lemon batter in the bottom of each of the loaf forms, aiming to use up about half the batter in the bowl. Mix the food coloring into the rest of the batter with a few turns of a spatula. Scoop the purplish batter over the top of the plain batter and smooth it in place.
- Bake: Bake the bread for 30 minutes until the tops spring back when you touch them in the middle and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. If you’re baking this in a 9 x 5 pan, the bread will take 45-50 minutes to bake. Turn out the loaves onto a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes.
- Glaze: Mix the glaze ingredients in a small bowl. Dip the tops of the loaves in the glaze and then sprinkle them with more lavender and lemon zest.
How to make the best lemon lavender bread
- Less is more with the lavender: Dried flowers in baking can be either weak flavored or overpowering. Lavender is one flower that can be on the overpowering range. 1 teaspoon in my tests was just the right amount in the bread to accent the lemon but not so much that it was all you could taste.
- Sprinkle the breads immediately: Sprinkle on the lemon zest and the extra lavender for decoration right after you dip the tops of the breads. This makes sure the decoration will stick, and believe me, no one wants to take a bite of lavender anything without knowing what they’re getting themselves into. My boys took the lavender as a warning sign, while my daughter and I were only too delighted with it!
- Let the glaze set: If you want to package up these breads for gifts, be sure to let the glaze harden. Dried glaze will be much less messy to slip into a cellophane bag.
Storage and Freezing instructions
Room temperature storage: The bread is best eaten the same day that it is made, but it will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days, loosely wrapped in foil. Avoid wrapping the loaves in plastic wrap as the sugar in this loaf will make moisture migrate to the surface, making the glaze sticky.
Freezing instructions: You can also freeze the bread without the glaze in a plastic bag for up to 3 months. Set the frozen bread on the counter to thaw for a couple hours when you want to eat it. From there you can glaze bread.
Recipe Variations
- Lemon lavender cake: Scrape the batter into an 8×8 ” pan. It should bake in about 30-35 minutes at 350F. From there you can glaze the top of the cake just the same as the bread.
- Lemon lavender muffins: Line a muffin tin with liners and divide the batter amongst the papers. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes. Dip the tops of the muffins in the glaze.
- Easy lavender lemon cupcakes: follow the muffins directions above. Once cool, top each muffin with a swirl of the best whipped cream frosting. Definitely tint the icing with purple or yellow food coloring.
Lavender Lemon Bread FAQ
I would not. Bottled lemon juice has a chemical flavor that is definitely not fresh tasting. This recipe calls for lemon zest and juice, so simply grate off the zest and squeeze the same lemon.
Look at a natural foods store with bulk teas. That’s where I bought mine, but you can also buy it online. I really like the Spice way culinary lavender. I’ve bought spices from them for years and their quality is always excellent for cooking and baking.
More Spring recipes
Lemon Lavender tea loaves
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 8 mini loaves 1x
Description
As the daffodils pop up in the garden come Spring, this floral sunny tasting bread seems the perfect way to enjoy the fragrance of fresh flowers. The two-tone look on these mini loaves and the simple lemon glaze will add a little bit of color the Easter bunny himself would approve. As this is a one-bowl creation, you can make this in lazy fashion in that time of day before the coffee kicks in.
Ingredients
Lemon Lavender tea loaf batter
- Cooking spray for the pan
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar (132 g)
- 4 teaspoons grated lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon food grade dried lavender
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (260 g)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup butter (75 g)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (59 mL)
- 3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon natural blue food coloring (Color Kitchen natural food colors) or a couple drops violet gel food coloring
- 1/4 teaspoon beet powder or natural red food coloring (again from Color Kitchen natural food colors)
Lemon Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar (120 g)
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon food grade dried lavender
Instructions
Make the batter
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Spray a silicone mini loaf pan pan or a 9 x 5” loaf pan with a little cooking spray. If you’re using a standard loaf pan, line the pan with a small piece of parchment that covers the bottom and goes up the long sides.
- Place the sugar, 2 teaspoons of the lemon zest, and the lavender in a small coffee grinder . Blitz everything until the lavender and the lemon are well pulverized.
- Stir the flour with the lemon lavender sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl.
- Melt the butter in a small pan or microwave it in a cup. Pour in the eggs, lemon juice, and yogurt and the butter over the dry ingredients.
- Lightly whisk the eggs with a fork to break them up, and then gradually whisk the eggs into the rest of the wet ingredients. Mix everything until the flour just disappears.
- Pour the wet ingredients over the flour and mix just until the flour disappears.
- Scoop about half of the batter into the pans and smooth it with a spoon.
- Mix in the food coloring with the rest of the batter.
- Top the colored batter on top of the lemon batter in each well of the mini loaf pan or on top the big loaf pan.
- Bake the mini loaf pan breads for 30 minutes or the big loaf pan for 45-50 minutes until the top of the bread(s) spring back when you touch them in the middle and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Lift the bread by the parchment paper onto a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes.
Make the glaze
- Mix the glaze ingredients together in a small bowl.
- Dip the tops of the warm loaves in the glaze and then sprinkle the remaining lavender and remaining lemon zest on top. Let the bread cool completely and allow the glaze to harden before cutting slices.
- The bread is best eaten the same day that it is made, but it will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days, loosely wrapped in foil. You can also freeze the bread without the glaze in a plastic bag for up to 3 months. Set the frozen bread on the counter to thaw for a couple hours when you want to eat it. From there you can glaze bread.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Morning breads
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
