Baking with Hibiscus Flowers

HIBISCUS FLOWER CAKE          
It's Hibiscus flower harvest time at our farm, and we are having some more fun with them in our farm kitchen. This time we used them as a cranberry substitute and baked them into this lovely, moist cake. Try it yourself using our recipe. We sell our hibiscus flowers at our farmers market stand at the Artisan Alley Farmers' Market in Deland FL.   It will take a bit over an  hour. Also called "roselle" and  "Florida cranberry" the part we use and call "hibiscus flower" is not truly the flower but actually the seed pod surrounded by tart tasting sepals. These are removed and can be used dried or fresh. We used them fresh in our cake. This delicious cake makes 10 servings

INGREDIENTS
4 cups hibiscus flower sepals (start with about 68 whole fresh flowers ~3/4 lb)
1  1/2 cups sugar
2 cups water
zest from 1 orange

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup buttermilk

TO PREPARE YOUR HIBISCUS FLOWERS: simply pull off the red sepals around the seed pod. This is easy and not messy. When you have 4 cups, pulse them quickly in a food processor to chop them coarsely. Place them in a large sauce pan with the 1 1/2 cups sugar and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil on medium high heat stirring then reduce heat to medium cooking 10 more minutes. Remove from heat, stir in orange zest, allow to cool.

PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 DEGREES

PREPARE THE CAKE BATTER:  Melt butter. Using a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, add 1 cup sugar and blend well. Stir in melted butter gradually, mix well. Sift dry ingredients together then add to egg mixture alternating with buttermilk. Stir carefully to combine without over beating.

Oil a 9 x 13 x 2 inch baking pan.  Using a slotted spoon scoop out cooked hibiscus flowers from sauce pan and place in bottom of baking pan. Save the syrup to pour over on the side or decorate plates with later. Carefully pour the cake batter over the flowers. Bake for about 30 minutes. Cake will be golden brown on top when done.  Cool completely. Carefully cut out pieces and plate hibiscus flower side up.
 

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