Rose Geranium carries the scent of a rose bouquet without the colorful petals.
Its pleasant aromatics flavor cakes, cookies, frostings, creams, and shortbread with a fantastic floral note! It's not easy to find but this buttery cake is rich, moist, and rosy proof that it's worth the search.
The creamy frosting has a tropical hint of coconut and the fresh berries offer a zesty little tangy burst that offsets the sweetness.
I chose blueberries because they taste kind of floral to me and it really compliments the rose herb.
With each blissful bite you have the tropics, a taste of summer, and a seasonal dessert for your next picnic!
If you don't have or cannot locate rose geranium, you can use rose water or extract.
Other Ideas For Cooking With Rose Geranium
1. Try wrapping a stick of butter in fresh rose geranium leaves. Let it rest in the frig for a few days and you'll have a decadent spread for scones and delicious butter for cakes and pastry dough.
2. Add fresh or dried leaves to French toast batter.
3. Make a simple syrup with equal parts of sugar and water. Just bring the two to a boil until sugar dissolves. Then add fresh leaves and allow to cool. Strain and use for for cocktails or to brush over cake layers.
4. A hint of rose lends a special flavor to vinaigrettes for salads.
Ingredients For Cake
Non-stick cooking spray with flour
2 large eggs at room temperature
3 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1/3 cup buttermilk, divided
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 ¾ cups cake flour (NO SUBSTITUTE) cake will be sunken in the center and will not work correctly with other flours
1 ½ cups sugar
1 ¾ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1 tablespoon pieces and slightly softened
1/3 cup canola oil
1 ¼ teaspoons dried rose geranium, ground fine
½ cup heavy cream
Directions For Cake
Arrange a shelf in the lower third of the oven. Place a baking stone on it and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 9 x 2 inch round cake pan with the baking spray and line with a piece of parchment paper. Very lightly spray the parchment too.
Stir the eggs, yolks, 3 tablespoons of the buttermilk, and the vanilla together in a medium bowl.
Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixer on low speed for a full 30 seconds. Add butter, oil, and the remaining 2 tablespoons of buttermilk. Mix on low speed to moisten the dry ingredients, then increase to medium speed and beat 1 ½ minutes. Scrape down the sides and across the bottom of the bowl. Add 1/3 of the egg mixture and beat for 20 seconds. Repeat, adding thirds until all of the egg mixture is incorporated. Scrape down the sides with each addition. Briefly mix in the rose geranium.
In a cold bowl with cold beaters, whip the cream until soft peaks form when the beater is lifted. Beat just a little beyond this soft peak stage. Stir about ¼ of the whipped cream into the batter to lighten it. Then fold the rest of the whipped cream into the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Drop the pan onto the counter from a height of 4 inches to knock out the bubbles. Place the cake in the oven on the stone and bake until the center springs back when touched, or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean but moist, about 40 minutes.
Ideally, the cake should not pull away from the sides until it has just come out of the oven. The center temperature should be about 209 degrees if you check by inserting an instant-read thermometer.
Place the cake in the pan on a rack to cool, about 10 minutes, then shake the pan to loosen the cake all around. Spray cooling rack with non-stick cooking spray and invert the cake onto the rack to finish cooling. Peel off the parchment. Cool completely before frosting.
Ingredients For Frosting
1 ¾ cup powdered sugar
½ cup butter
1 teaspoon coconut rum
4 tablespoon coconut Greek yogurt
fresh blueberries
Directions For Frosting
Sift sugar and then measure. Beat butter for a few minutes on medium speed. Add sugar and mix on low speed first. After the sugar incorporates with the butter increase speed to medium to fully blend. Add rum and yogurt. Beat for another couple of minutes until the frosting is a smooth spreadable consistency.
Frost top and sides of cake. Decorate with blueberries in the pattern of your choice.
Magnificent Moist Golden Cake (Two-Stage Method) from the book BakeWise. Slightly adapted.
Frosting - TipsyCulinaryQueen
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