Make the pound cake that was a sparkling dessert at Lexington’s Flag Fork Herb Farm

If you were lucky in the mid-1990s, someone invited you to lunch at Lexington’s Flag Fork Herb Farm, a cafe in a gift shop at 900 N. Broadway. And if you were really lucky, you had a slice of the lemon geranium pound cake while you were there that sparkled from the lemon glaze and sugar crystals.

The cafe was started by Mike and Carrie Creech, who had been selling antiques and art. They wanted to add dried flowers, potpourri, that kind of thing and then started growing the herbs that became their signature mixes for soups or dips.

They first opened Flag Fork Herb Farm in Franklin County outside Frankfort, then added a shop in Lexington. That grew into tea room with gardens and herbs incorporated into the recipes. At least in the early days the food was brought in daily from Alice’s Restaurant on South Ashland Avenue, where it was prepared by Ann Gautier.

A typical menu included chilled soups, salads, cold sandwiches and tasty entrees such as dill turkey pasta salad. And there were almost as many desserts as entrees. You could come for lunch or just for dessert in the afternoon. Generations of Lexington women celebrated special events amid the dried wreaths and gift items. Not a few engagements and babies were revealed there.

Flag Fork Herb Farm Garden and Cafe closed in August 2011 after 16 years but the mixes are still available at Good Foods Co-op, A Taste of Kentucky and other places that sell Kentucky foods. The building has been a series of restaurants, most recently renovated as the new home for Lady Remoulade Kitchen.

Luckily Lexington cookbook author Barbara Harper Bach asked for the recipe for that delicious lemon geranium pound cake. You can make the cake without the geranium leaves, she says, but it definitely loses something.

Collected by Barbara Harper Bach from Flag Fork Herb Farm

This story was originally published May 12, 2022 at 6:00 AM.

Janet Patton

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-379-5233

Janet Patton covers restaurants, bars, food and bourbon for the Herald-Leader. She is an award-winning business reporter who also has covered agriculture, gambling, horses and hemp. Support my work with a digital subscription