Ultimate Dandelion Cake
This cake is a love poem to the dandelion flower, with layers of dandelion cake and silky golden dandelion buttercream.
Servings: 10
Ingredients
Dandelion Syrup
- 1 cups sugar
- ¾ cups water
- ½ cup dandelion petals
Dandelion Cake
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ¾ cup dandelion sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 ounces unsalted butter soft
- ½ cup whole milk room temperature
- 3 egg whites room temperature
- 1 vanilla bean seeds scraped out
Dandelion Buttercream
- ¾ cup dandelion syrup
- 3 egg whites
- 8 ounces unsalted butter soft
- 1 teaspoon elderflower extract or St Germaine optional
Instructions
For the dandelion syrup:
- Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer until sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat. Add dandelion petals; stir to saturate petals with the syrup. Allow to cool slightly.
- Pour syrup into a container and leave to infuse at least a few hours or overnight.
- Before using, strain syrup through a cheesecloth, wringing out with your hands or pressing with the back of a wooden spoon to extract as much syrup as possible. You should end up with about ¾ cup of strained syrup.
For the dandelion cake:
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter two 6-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
- Whisk together flour, dandelion sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Beat soft butter into flour mixture until butter is broken down into tiny pieces, about 3-4 minutes.
- Whisk milk, egg whites, and vanilla bean seeds together. Pour milk mixture into butter-flour mixture and beat on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add remaining milk mixture and blend until just combined.
- Distribute batter between pans and bake until lightly golden brown around the edges and starting to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 25-30 minutes. Allow cakes to cool; invert to remove from pans and remove parchment paper.
For the dandelion buttercream:
- Pour dandelion syrup into a saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until it reaches 235 - 240° F.
- Meanwhile, while syrup cooks, place egg whites into a clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on high until soft peaks form. If soft peaks form before syrup is ready, turn mixture on low but keep them moving.
- Once syrup is ready, remove it from heat and let it sit for about a minute, until bubbles subside. Pour it into egg whites in a very slow and gradual stream, with mixer on medium. Once all syrup is in, continue to whisk on medium for about 5 minutes, or until mixture has cooled slightly.
- Start adding in soft butter, about a tablespoon at a time, until all the butter is in. Allow to beat a few more minutes until buttercream is silky and smooth.
- Add elderflower extract or St. Germaine, if using.
To assemble cake:
- Slice each cake in half horizontally to create 4 layers.
- Place first layer of cake onto a cake plate. Add about 1/3 cup of buttercream and spread evenly onto cake, leaving a little bit of space around the edges.
- Repeat with the next two layers of cake, adding a cake layer and spreading buttercream on top. Add final cake layer on top, pressing gently to adhere.
- Frost cake in a very thin layer of buttercream on top and sides. Place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 20 minutes.
- Remove cake from refrigerator and finish frosting with remaining buttercream. Sprinkle cake with additional dandelion sugar if desired.
Notes
Cake will keep in the refrigerator for about 4 days. For best flavor, allow cake to warm up to room temperature before serving.