Lemon Cake with Candied Violets

We love cakes for tea. Any kinds of cake. This is a wonderful lemon cake with lemon frosting. But what makes it special are the candied violets that top each piece.
Not our candied violets, however, for they were purchased, although we do candy our own pansies which decorate cakes and cupcakes in winter as long as they last.

There is something about violets on a cake in winter -- especially the cold and snowy winter that we've had this year. It definitely brings spring! And our larder is never without it's supply of candied violets (and pansies) for they do make an ordinary cake special.

The cake is not outdoors but the violets were and so this is my Outdoor Wednesday post. Please visit Susan at A Southern Daydreamer to see what everyone else is doing outside this Wednesday!

Lemon Cake with Candied Violets

1 cup butter, at room temperature

1 cup white sugar

4 eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

zest of 1 lemon

2 cups flour

2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1/4 c. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 and place rack in center of the oven. Butter a 9 inch spring form pan and then line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy and pale in color. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.

Sift together the flour, baking bowder and salt and then add to the batter along with the lemon juice. Mix only until incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula. Bake about 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool, then gently remove the sides of the pan.

The recipe calls for a frosting of 1 cup of powdered sugar and 2 T. lemon juice mixed together and poured over the top of the cake (so that it can drip down the sides). However, I chose a lemon flavored buttercream and then decorated the top with candied violets.