Magnolia flowers…. we’ve been eating a lot of them lately, between Magnolia Flower Pickle and Chocolate Dipped Magnolia Flowers and this amazing Magnolia Flower Drizzle. We’re two weeks into official spring and we’ve already finished off two of these beauties!
So what does Magnolia Flower Drizzle taste like?
Basically…. magnolias and if you know anything about magnolia flowers you know that their flavour can range from lemony to gingery. If you offered someone a slice and they didn’t know it was magnolia, they might guess ginger, or some kind of spice, but sweet. Again, that can differ depending on your magnolias. Ours definitely have a ginger tinge.
That’s kind of how the magnolia flower drizzle came to be – I was in the process of making a lemon drizzle, when I remembered the magnolia flowers in the fridge and as I know they pair well with lemon, I added them in. I found the lemon overwhelmed the flavour, so the next time I made them without lemon and added magnolias to the drizzle. It worked a treat and the whole family loved it.
I’d say its definitely a make-for-later cake. Like with curries and other meals with lots of spices, the flavour infuses over time. I haven’t tried freezing and defrosting it yet, but I would imagine it would hold well too. I’ll try that before the end of the season and see if we can hold on to the magnolias for a few months longer.
Hold on a sec! You can eat Magnolia flowers? Yeah – I’ve written a bit about that on other posts on this blog, but you can find a list of definitely edible magnolia flowers here.
- 170g white sugar
- 10 magnolia flowers (petals only)
- 170g butter
- 2 medium eggs
- 170g self-raising flour
- 5 magnolia flowers (petals only)
- 5 tbsp icing sugar
- Small amount of water
- Grease a non-stick cake tin and preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan, 350F).
- Put the sugar and flower petals in a food processor and mix till the flowers and sugar are incorporated. Add the sugar and whisk till the mixture is fluffy.
- Add the eggs - which unfortunately will change the wonderful pink colour - and zest of one lemon.
- Add the flour and fold in gently to ensure the mixture doesn't fall flat.
- Spoon the mixture into the cake tin.
- Bake for 25 - 30 minutes. A skewer should come out clean when the cake is pierced.
- In a food processor, mix the second lot of magnolia petals and sugar - it makes a pink sugar. Add a little bit of water if needed. Place over a medium low heat and stir until dissolved, then bring to boil for 2 minutes to create a syrup.
- Poke holes all over the warm cake to allow the syrup access.
- Drizzle over the syrup and place decorative magnolia flowers on the cake.
- Set aside to cool before serving. The hot cake will fall apart if you try to cut it - it's much better cold.