Edible Flowers – Violas
Today it’s back to Winter Weather! Grrrr! My ranunculus are taking a hit and I’m discouraged about them. I just paid a visit to Somerset Feed and Grain and the man there informed me it’s going down to 18F tonight. Jeez! I thought we were done with this. Even with my puffy coat today it was cold walking the dog.
Oh well – I had an idea from yesterday that I had to distract me from the cold outside. On the way home from errands yesterday, I picked up a flat of violas. These are edible flowers and I checked to make sure they hadn’t been sprayed by the growers. So, there’s nothing sunnier than a loaf cake decorated with edible and sugared flowers is there? It may be cold outside but it’s definitely Spring in my kitchen! I’ve managed to hang onto a few more blood oranges – for emergency purposes such as this.
Edible flowers can add a touch of whimsy to many a dish and recipe. Today I decided to try a delicate springlike cake and do a little experimenting with the decorating:
BLOOD ORANGE-LAVENDER LOAF CAKE WITH COCONUT –
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
3/4 cups olive oil
1 cup sugar
zest of two blood oranges
4 blood oranges, peeled and quartered
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp almond extract
2 jumbo eggs or 3 large
8 0z mascarpone cheese
1 cup sweetened coconut
fresh cut viola blossoms
2 tsp organic lavender buds, chopped
Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 9″ loaf pan and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and orange zest and lavender buds. Add the coconut and mix in, ensuring there are no clumps. Set aside.
In a blender, purée the oranges and the buttermilk. Add the mascarpone and blend.
In the bowl of your electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment whip the olive oil and sugar on high speed until thickened slightly 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat in. Add the almond extract and beat in. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 batches, alternating with two batches of the wet ingredients. Mix just until the flour disappears. Take bowl off mixer and finish with a rubber spatula. Pour mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool in pan for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely.
For the flowers: Either arrange flowers over all and glaze, if desired with a Limoncello syrup. Or, brush the petals of the flowers with a cooled simple syrup and sprinkle with superfine sugar. Arrange on top of cake and serve with a scoop of vanilla gelato. Enjoy!
I’m not an expert with sugared flowers as you can see – but this was a fun project. Cake smells amazing! Haven’t sampled it yet. In any event, it’s a cheerful outcome.
