MAKE: Rose Pound Cake.

Anything rose-- I'll buy it, taste it, smell it…spritz it on my face. I'm going through a total rose phase right now. If flowery is not something you want to associate with consumption then I recommend skipping this recipe or omitting the rose. Of course then you are just left with pound cake, which I think is what Rob would have preferred me to make. His comment was, "it's a good, moist cake." Smart man. I, on the other hand, loved the floral, sweet flavor and thought it went best with a cup of coffee in the morning.  

I found this recipe on Pinterest and couldn't get it out of my mind. It kept calling me back to it. And oddly enough I was picking up the ingredients graduly without even realizing it. I bought a bottle of DRAM apothecary's Juniper Rose Syrup and then the rose water thinking I'd like to figure out ways of incorporating them into recipes-- and then I remembered this cake. Perfect.

A note on the ingredients: rose water can be purchased online or a smaller boutique grocery may carry it (if you are local I found mine at Marczyk's). The same goes for rose tea and again if you are local to Denver I bought mine at Apothecary Tinctura. Also, you can find the DRAM syrup here or here in town. 

Ingredients: Serves 7

For the cake:

1.5 sticks of butter 

1/2 cup of cream cheese or half of 8 ounce package

1.5 cups of granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1.5 cups of all purpose sifted flour

1 teaspoons of rosewater

For the glaze:

1 tbsp. of cooled rosebud tea

2 tbsp. of DRAM Juniper Rose Syrup 

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1   cup sifted powdered sugar 

1/2 tbsp.  of buttermilk

MAKE:

Preheat oven to three hundred and twenty five degrees. Butter and flour a 6 inch bunt pan*. Set aside.

Make tea according to instructions.  Combine cooled tea, sugar and buttermilk. Set aside.

Using a stand or hand mixer, cream butter and cream cheese.

Gradually add sugar and beat until fluffy.

Slowly add eggs; one at a time.

In stages, incorporate sifted flour in but do not overbeat.

Add rosewater to mixture (the batter will be thick). Transfer into pan.   

Cooking time is around one hour and 30 minutes. Use the toothpick method to test doneness.

Let cool in pan and then convert to cooling rack.

To make the icing, mix all ingredients together until smooth. 

Pour glaze over cake and garnish with rose petals, if desired.

* if you only have a 9 in. bunt pan, double the recipe

Original Recipe found here.