Alright, alright, alright! How’s everyone’s week going so far? It’s hump day and it’s been an exciting week! I got to see the beautiful faces of Karen and Kimberly from Paleo Foundation, and I’m just in a great mood. My toe is finally healing up and I am back up and running (Pun intended haha). I’m back in the kitchen in full speed creating or as Dev like to say, “Messing it up!” I can’t help it. Have you seen a mad scientist’s lab? It’s usually pretty hectic in there. There is a reason to my madness, I promise! Out of this chaos comes my Paleo Strawberry Rose Cake. There is just no better way to celebrate a great week than with a cake.
I have always love the concept of edible flowers or using them as an ingredient. It is just so romantic. Not only is it beautiful, it smells great and taste fantastic. That is why I created the Strawberry Rose Cake. Blueberry Lavender is everywhere but you rarely see rose. So I am definitely challenging myself here. This recipe is definitely inspired by the cakes I ate growing up in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, most cakes are not rated based on the complexity of the flavor but the quality of the cake. It is usually a very well made white or yellow cake that’s complimented with fresh whipped cream and fresh fruit. As you can see, it is all about the freshness of the ingredients and not how much food coloring you can add in or how much fondant you can layer on. In comparison to the typical American cake, it is much less sweet. Also, before we get on with the instructions, I want to say thanks mom for the roses that you provided for the set. And secondly, it is Mother’s Day this week. To my mom, Devin and all the wonderful fantastic mommies out there, Happy Mother’s Day!!! I do want to apologize for the delay in recipe this week, we are getting ready for a long road trip down to Texas for a family emergency and to put the icing on the cake (YES! Pun intended), I was rear ended yesterday while heading to lunch. So I’d say, let’s eat some Strawberry Rose Cake. I think we all deserve it.
Strawberry Rose Cake:
Cake:
1 Cup – Otto’s Natural Cassava Flour
¾ Cup – Cashew Meal
2 Tsp – Paleo Baking Powder
Pinch – Salt
1 Cup – Organic Honey
¼ Cup – Kasandrinos Extra Virgin Olive Oil
¼ Cup – Coconut Milk
4 – Handsome Brook Farm Pasture-Raised Eggs
1 Tsp – Pure Vanilla Extract
1 Tsp – Strawberry Extract
1 Tsp – Rose Extract
Butter Cream Frosting:
2 Cups – Paleo Powdered Sugar
5½ Tbsp – Gold Nugget Ghee
1 Tbsp – Coconut Milk (More if too thick)
1 Tsp – Almond Extract
½ Tsp – Vanilla Extract
Other:
1 Cup – Sliced Fresh Organic Strawberries
1½ Cup – Whipped Coconut Cream (As Needed)
Yup, yup, yup. We are definitely going to talk about ingredients. Why do you even ask!? You know it is going to happen. We will cover strawberries and the rose flavor for the Strawberry Rose Cake. First off, strawberries are in season, and there is no reason why it isn’t in everything you eat, both salads and desserts. It’s simply delicious. My son absolutely loves everything about strawberries: strawberry fruit leathers, strawberries, strawberry yogurt, strawberry kefir, strawberry everything! I have to say, I agree with him. Next, lets talk about roses. You can’t make a Strawberry Rose Cake without roses. If you are allergic to food coloring, you can opt to grind fresh rose petals or you can be lazy like me and just use rose flavor extract. There is a slight flavor difference, but it is barely noticeable. Let’s bake the Strawberry Rose Cake!
Cake Instructions:
To make the Strawberry Rose Cake, pre-heat your oven to 350ºF. Mix all of the cake ingredients together except for the strawberry and rose extracts. Divide your batter into thirds, making sure to have enough for three equal six-inch round baking pans (or whatever shape you want). In two of the thirds, mix in your strawberry extract and, in the last third, mix in your rose extract. In the baking process, these extracts tend to disappear a little, so add more if needed to your taste. After thoroughly mixing in all of the extracts, bake these little beauties for about 28 minutes. You can check if they’re done by touch or if a toothpick inserted comes out clean. On to the icing!
Buttercream Instructions:
To make the icing for the Strawberry Rose Cake, just mix all the icing ingredients together with a hand mixer. For the inside icing, you will want it a little stiffer because it is the glue holding your cake together. The icing on the outside should be a little thinner so as to spread easier without picking up crumbs. Whether its easier to make separate batches or to separate a little during the process, that’s up to you. Personally, I love that the “Naked” cake is trending, because I am not a professional decorator by any means haha. I browse Instagram consistently and I see so many videos of beautifully decorated cakes. There are so many cake bosses all around the world. Between each layer, pipe an outer ring with the buttercream icing and inside it, layer your freshly sliced strawberries and fill the empty spaces with whipped coconut cream. Make sure your rose cake is the middle layer. After all the layers of the Strawberry Rose Cake is done, finish this cutie off with a thin layer of buttercream icing all over. There you have it, my Paleo Strawberry Rose Cake. Until next time, eat up my friends!
