My fascination of cooking with flowers continues when I saw these edible flowers on the vegetables section in Fairway yesterday. Since they are quite rare; I immediately bought 3 packages. They were quite inexpensive for only USD 2.99 per package.
I adapted the recipe from a book called Cooking With Flowers by Miche Bacher of Mali B Sweets (here).
And I was not disappointed! It taste so fruity and yes, orange! The flower petals did not affect the taste of the cake at all, it just adds a hint of peppery and nutty or earthy taste to it. I would definitely make this cake again for a fun girl party one day!
I think this cake looks adorable. Don't you think?
::Recipe::
Flower Orange Cake
~ 3 cups sugar
Zest and juice of 1 orange (I added grapefuit juice too)
~ 4-1/2 cups cake flour
~ 1 tsp baking soda
~ 1/4 tsp salt
~ 1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
~ 9 eggs
~ 1-1/2 cups full-fat Greek Yogurt
~ 1/2 cup calendula or other edible flower petals (from about 25 flowers) plus extra to decorate
Note: Mine was not calendula. I did not know their names are. They came in a small package with different flowers inside.
~ Flower frosting.
*Use petals of a single color or try any mix of colors that you like.
1. Preheat oven to 325 deg. Line the bottom of three 8 inch round cake pans with parchment paper and coat them with nonstick spray.
2. Whip sugar and zest in a food processor for 2 to 30 seconds, or until it releases a sweet orange aroma.
3. Stir flour, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl. In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter and orange sugar on medium speed for 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
Don't skimp on sifting. It really does matter, especially for cakes and other tender baked goods. Flour gets compacted while sitting in the counter waiting for you to use it, so it needs a bit of fluffing before measuring. If you don't sift, the same volume of flour will weigh a lot more and cause your cake to be heavier and denser.
4. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl so the mixture is smooth. Reduce speed to low and add half the flour mixture; then mix in yogurt and orange juice. Beat in the remaining flour mixture and flower petals.
5. Distribute batter among the pans and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a metal tester comes out clean. Let cakes cool to room temperature in pans and then turn them out and flip them upright. Let them cool for at least 1 hour and up to over night; after an hour, tightly cover each layer in plastic wrap and store at room temperature until ready to frost.
6. Mark the lowest spot in the top of the first cake layer. With a serrated knife, use a slow sawing motion and circle around the cake, cutting off the uneven top. Repeat with remaining layers.
7. Place the first layer cut-side down on your serving dish. Spread frosting on top with an offset spatula or a good flexible spatula. Top with another upside-down layer pf cake and repeat the process twice more. Frost the outside of the cake with the remaining frosting.
You might need to put a layer of crumb coat; put only a thing layer around the cake and refrigerate up to an hour. Take it out and finish frosting.
8. Decorate with flower petals of your choice.
Note: It is always better to bake cake and take out from the oven 5 to 10 minutes less than what the recipe instruction. My experienced in the past I always ended up with a dry cake. When this is happened my rescue to make the cake moist again is and for this cake: mix orange juice and (I happened to have grape fruit) juice. Pour 1 or 2 tbsp of liquor of your choice mine is rum) then poke the cake on the top and pour the fruit juice mix. It will help to moisten the cake.
Flower Frosting
~ 1 package cream cheese
~ 1 cup confectioners' sugar
~ 2 tbsp milk
~ 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
~ 1/2 to 1 cup flower petals
Beat all ingredients in a mixer until there is no lumps.
~~oo00oo~~
Good luck Everyone!
Thank you so much for stopping by!
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