So finally I am sharing my Zobo Cake recipe after so long...and many requests from my readers to share...I even received a private email from a French chef who wanted the recipe...! how gratifying....
So I enjoy exploring new tastes and flavours.... Hibiscus flowers are so fascinating to me and I have used them in a lot of exciting ways. It was only a matter of time that I would include them in my cakes..
I love to create desserts and I always look for new thangz to incorporate in them. Hibiscus flowers seem like a good thing to to use in desserts because of its unique taste and texture. It has a really tart taste which can be maneuvered in a lot of ways.
So for this recipe, I did some prepping, after which it became so easy.
Prepping the Hibiscus Flowers
Using the leaves as they are will create a disaster....! I had to mellow down the harshness of the tarty taste before I could use it in the recipe. This was simple to do but required a bit of patience. I first macerated the leaves in some sugar for a few days...
So I started by coarsely blending some washed dried leaves in some water, then I added a lot of sugar and boiled, just for about 5 minutes. I then transferred into a jar and stored away for a good 5 days to mature. After this, the leaves were ready to be used....
At this stage the leaves tasted really sweet and not so tart. The texture had also improved into a desirable softness, which actually will add some good texture to the cake....you know just like raisins in a fruit cake.
Adding to Cake Batter
Before adding to the cake batter, I ensured that the leaves were well minced into tiny little pieces...and I added to the batter at the last stage, folding into the batter in one direction movement until its all evenly incorporated into the batter......that's it. And the colour is just divine as you can see from the pictures.
I used my favorite cake recipe but I imagine you can include the hibiscus leaves in any of your cake recipes. They would not have any noticeable bad effect on your cake, just they impact a beautiful color, great texture and the exciting sourly sweetness that you would absolutely love.....
