Lilac Lemon Blackberry Pound Cake With a Lilac Glaze

A berry-filled simple pound cake infused with lilac. Simple and sweet with subtle hints of lilac. The perfect cake to slice with your afternoon tea or enjoy on you brunch table. Basic pantry ingredients transformed into a lovely treat.

It’s one year since we moved back to Canada from Trinidad. It’s been a very chaotic year - a year of change on so many levels - a difficult year. Naturally this brings on some anxiety and stress but we have been trying to see the upside of things, and the blog has played a small part in helping us do that. It’s helped me look forward to change - change of season, change of employment focus, change in many other things too. I’m not one to ever hold back with change and I have learned that Im quite adaptable but I need some sort of consistency in my life. There are certain factors that help with that and a small portion has been the blog. So I’m grateful for that and it’s something that keeps me on my toes and organized as well.

That is what my year has been like. I bring this up only because I was trying to figure out why I didn’t do anything with lilac last year (thus the reminiscing of the year). The explanation is that lilac season was two weeks later than last year and so it was practically done by the time we got here last year. That is why I was so happy to have lilac season roll around this year and actually be present for it. I love the way you can smell it in the air in my neighborhood. There are so many trees around that it’s scent is always wafting around. I have always wanted to make lilac sugar and when I was researching the sugar I came across a lilac syrup recipe by one of my faves Kayley McCabe of The Kitchen McCabe. I knew I had to make both and then I had to figure out what to do with them.

The lilac I foraged from a dear friends tree was white lilac variety so I gave up looking for recipes with a lilac coloured glaze, until I read Kayley’s post. She uses blackberries or blueberries to steep with the lilac imparting a lovely purple’ish tinge to it. That got me thinking of recipes that I could make with the lilac syrup and sugar that would include blackberries and immediately thought - lemon berry loaf. I found a very simple recipe that I made twice before and loved due to it’s simplicity. I decided to use the lilac infused sugar in place of the regular in the recipe and then make a fragrant glaze to go with it.

By no means is this cake perfumey in any way. The lilac fragrance is light but definitely there. Not soapy in any way. We loved it and it’s so simple to make whether you use the infused syrup or sugar. I have a blackberry bush in the back yard and can’t wait for the warmer months ahead when I can pick some and use homegrown ones in this pound cake. This syrup preserves well so hopefully I will still have some left for this glaze. I plan on using it in some cocktails so we will see what’s left of it by then. This is such a a basic berry pound cake that I know you are going to love whether you use the lilac or not - so enjoy!!

Recipe

Ingredients

For the cake

• ½ cup butter, melted
• 1 cup sugar (lilac sugar - recipe below)
• 2 large eggs
• Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ½ cup milk
• 1 cup fresh or frozen (don’t thaw them) blackberries

For the Lilac Glaze (optional)

• ¼-½ cup icing sugar
• 2-4 tbsp lilac syrup - recipe below

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease or line a 8x4-inch loaf pan with parchment.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the butter and lilac sugar, then whisk in the eggs, vanilla, lemon zest and juice until well blended.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Add half to the butter mixture, stir just until combined, then stir in the milk, then the remaining dry ingredients, stirring just until combined. Gently fold in the blackberries. Scrape the batter into prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes, until golden and springy to the touch. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.
5. Whisk together the lilac syrup and icing sugar (adding more of either to achieve the consistency you like) and drizzle over the cake and serve.

For the lilac sugar

Ingredients

• ½ cup Lilac blossoms, little stems removed
• 1 cup Granulated sugar

Directions

1. In a large jar alternate pouring the sugar and the petals into it. Seal the jar and place it in a cool and dark location (I kept mine in my pantry)for several days.
2. Shake every couple days for 2-3 days.
3. After two to three days have passed, sift the sugar through a sieve with large holes making sure all petals are removed. And then use sugar as you wish in baked goods or tea.

For the lilac syrup

Ingredients

• 2 cups Lilac Blossoms, little stems removed, tightly packed (I usually soak or rinse my blossoms in cold water to free them of dirt or insects)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 3-4 Blackberries
• Juice of half a medium size lemon

Directions

1. Place the blossoms and blackberries into a large jar.
2. Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium/high heat and bring to a boil, whisking to dissolve the sugar. Let it boil for 2 minutes, then remove from heat and pour the syrup directly into the jar over the lilac and blackberries.
3. Let stand until the syrup cools to room temperature and then cover/seal and refrigerate over night.
4. When ready to use, strain the syrup through a fine mesh sieve, pressing on the blossoms to extract all of the syrup. Stir in the lemon juice. Pour the syrup back into the jar and store sealed in the fridge for several months and enjoy in this cake glaze, and in cocktails.