Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 6 cup fluted tube pan. (There will be extra cake batter, which can be used to make about 2 dozen madeleines, if you like.) Combine almond paste and sugar until thoroughly combined and grainy. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until light, pale and fluffy. Sift together sifted flour and baking powder. Fold into almond-egg mixture. Fold ground almonds into the combined mixture. And finally, fold in the cooled melted butter.

Pour mixture into floured pan to about an inch from the top. Sprinkle top with washed and dried blueberries. (They will sink to the bottom during cooking and after turned out of pan will form the crown of the cake). Bake for approximately 35 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let cool for 15 minutes before turning out of pan.

Combine cream and lavender and let steep in refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.

Pour the cream mixture through a fine strainer to remove lavender. Discard lavender. Whip cream with sugar until soft peaks form. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Serve cake with skinned and sliced peaches that have been tossed with a little sugar, if you like, and with a generous dollop of lavender sweet cream.

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