Ruth from Oshkosh, WI (2017 Week 6: Botanical)

Baker

Ruth

Location

Oshkosh, WI

Baking Challenge

3-tiered Floral Cake

Give your botanical creation a clever name – and tell us about your recipe.

Three Petals. It is a lavender cake on the bottom, a chamomile in the middle, and a rose on the top. The chamomile and lavender I boiled down the leaves to condense the flavors. I made a syrup with each condensed flavor as well and brushed that over each when they had cooled.

Any disasters? Did you take any risks? Proudest moment? Lessons learned the hard way? Tell us about it.

I got two out of the three layers spot on. The lavender and chamomile turned out tasting and looking lovely. With the rose, I was amazed that the two teaspoons I put in of Rose water made it turn pungent. As soon as it was mixed in there was doubt. The smell was nice, but not in a way that made me hungry. I kept thinking that it was be just a bit less floral in each process (the baking, cooling, and eating). In the end, I was happy with the taste of two out of three and the look as a whole.

How did you add a Wisconsin twist to your flavors or decoration?

The flowers and eggs are from the Oshkosh farmers market. I wanted to incorporate rose petals from my rose bush, but the freezing process ended up turning them a bit grey.

How did you do?

Pleasantly satisfied.