Forest Floor Tea Cake

A Magical Forest Floor “Tea Cake”. This Lemon Balm Cake with Vanilla Bean Buttercream is the perfect dessert if you love tea or are drawn to flavors like Matcha! It’s bright, fresh, and sweet. The cake itself is a buttermilk pound cake. It is not overly sweet and pairs lovely with tea. The icing is a creamy version of traditional buttercream. The vanilla beans add a lovely depth to the sweetness that brings it all together. The cake is decorated with foraged grape hyacinths & phlox. I made hand sculpted marzipan mushrooms in a very violet theme! The top of the cake is decorated with green colored cake crumbs to give the look of a mossy forest floor! 

Lemon Balm “Tea Cake” with Vanilla Bean Buttercream 

3 cups of flour + more for dusting

1/2 tsp of Baking Soda

1/2 tsp of Baking Powder

1/2 tsp of Salt

Zest of 1 lemons

Juice of I lemon

1 cup of buttermilk at room temperature

2 sticks of butter (1 cup) at room temperature

2 cups of sugar

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

5 large eggs at room temperature

1 cup dried lemon balm (ground coursely after measuring)

Ingredients for the Icing:

1 cup of butter (at room temp)  

3 tsp vanilla bean paste

5-6 cups powdered sugar (sifted)

2-4 tbs half and half + more if needed 

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease (I use butter flavored crisco) and flour your pans. I used four 6” cake pans. Set aside. 

In a medium bowl combine 3 cups of flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt. In a small bowl combine the zest and juice of the lemon with the buttermilk. Set aside.

In your stand mixer cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla paste. Add the eggs in one at a time. After all eggs are added turn the mixer off and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl making sure there isn’t any unmixed butter and sugar.

With the mixer on low, add the buttermilk and flour mixtures to your butter & sugar mixture by alternating between flour and buttermilk until both are gone. Mix until evenly distributed.

Add the dried lemon balm. Mix until evenly distributed. You may need to scrape the sides a few times. Pour the batter into your greased pans and bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out clean.

Allow the cakes to cool in the pan for a minimum of 30 minutes. After 30 minutes flip the cakes out carefully onto a wire rack and allow to cool for another 30 minutes. While the cakes cool you can prepare the icing.

In a medium sized mixing bowl combine the

butter, vanilla bean paste, and 2 tsp half and half. Add in the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time until desired consistency is achieved. Add in more half and half of icing is too thick and more sugar if it’s too thin. Spread the icing evenly in between each layer and over the top and sides of the cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Enjoy!