While florals do find their way into baked goods fairly often at bakeshops and patisseries, it's less common for the average person to pluck some petals for whatever they're cooking at home.
Thus, Nikki Fotheringham's debut cookbook Taste Buds: A Field Guide to Cooking and Baking with Flowers is one that should easily pique your curiousity. The cookbook includes a wide range of savoury and sweet recipes that incorporate all kinds of flowers like roses, marigolds, lavender, elderflower and many more.
Ever-present in Canada throughout the warmer months of the year, dandelions are almost always a stone's throw away. If you happen to have dandelions popping up in your backyard (who doesn't?), this recipe for dandelion pound cake is a fun way to use a few of the flowers.
"Pound cakes date all the way back to the early 18th century and contain the building blocks of all great cakes: butter, flour, sugar and eggs. Traditionally, a pound cake would consist of one pound of each of the four main ingredients, hence the name," explains Nikki Fotheringham in the introduction to this recipe in Taste Buds. "You can make it in a 9 × 5-inch loaf pan for a more traditional pound cake if you prefer. I use a Bundt pan because I just love to say “Bundt cake” and tend to opt for Bundt pans whenever bundting possible."
Dandelion pound cake
Making the cake
2½ cups (625 ml) all-purpose flour
1½ tsp (7 ml) baking powder Pinch fine kosher salt
¼ cup (60 ml) dandelion petals, washed and dried
1¼ cups (300 ml) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1¾ cups (425 ml) granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1½ tsp (7 ml) pure vanilla extract
⅔ cup (150 ml) whole milk
Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C). Grease and flour a Bundt pan.
To make the cake, sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and gently mix in the dandelion petals.
Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter with the sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and mix well to combine, about 2 minutes.
Alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix for about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Once the batter is combined, pour it into the prepared Bundt pan.
Bake until a skewer inserted into the cake center comes out clean, 45–55 minutes. Place the pan on a wire rack. Leave the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully turn it out onto a cake plate.
Store any leftover cake in an airtight container in the fridge for 3–4 days.
Making the icing (optional)
1 cup (250 ml) icing sugar Zest of 1 lemon
1 Tbsp (15 ml) lemon juice
1 Tbsp (15 ml) whole milk
To make the icing, place the ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. Pour over the cake to cover it evenly. Alternatively, you can sprinkle the cake with 2 Tbsp (30 ml) icing sugar.
- Yield:
- Makes one 10-inch bundt cake
