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When I made the beautiful lavender loaves using the lavender buds that Jasmine so graciously sent to me, I found myself in the strange position of not having anyone to share them with. It was a Saturday, no one was home, the neighbours had already been the beneficiaries of other baked goods from me earlier in the week and I didn’t think the loaves would stay fresh enough to be brought to work on the Monday.

Not wanting to waste the loaves, I let them sit on the counter for a day and then I did something I’ve never done before: I made trifle!

I sliced the loaves into thick slices and drizzled them with Grand Marnier. I let them sit for a few hours and then cubed them. I found our best glass bowl and began layering the cubed lavender cake with the leftover Rapid Chiboust from the Gâteau St. Honoré, which was the Daring Baker challenge for May. I topped the cream with strawberries that I had macerated in sugar, Grand Marnier, freshly squeezed orange juice and orange zest. I also drizzled more Grand Marnier over each layer of strawberries and sprinkled on a few lavender buds for good measure. To complete the trifle, I whipped up some heavy cream that I had in the refrigerator and piped it over the final layer of lavender cake. I sprinkled on more lavender buds, decorated the border of the trifle with raspberries and used some leftover spun sugar as a garnish.

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I completely improvised my first trifle and it was fantastic! It was proof to me that you can take a few really good foods and put them together to make something profoundly delicious.

I hope you take the sun, the warm weather, the promise of a few days of relaxation ahead and put them all together to have a wonderful weekend!

Ciao!

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