Author Notes
aqua de jamaica is a sweet and bright drink popular in latin cuisines, made with a hibiscus flower tea. My boyfriend had made it for my birthday last year, and I loved it so much, I decided to go out and buy some hibiscus.... and I ended up buying a whole pound in bulk! I was inspired by the many recipes I have seen lately for desserts using matcha powder. The key to this recipe is to grind dried hibiscus in a spice/ coffee grinder until it is a powder. This hibiscus powder creates a lovely purple color and tropical flavor that is a welcome sign of spring in not-quite-spring weather. —Allison R. Stewart
Ingredients
- The Cake Batter
-
5
eggs
-
1.75 cups
sugar
-
1 tablespoon
good vanilla extract
-
zest of lemon
-
1/2 +2 tbsp cups
plain greek yogurt, I used 0%
-
2 teaspoons
baking powder
-
2 cups
All-purpose flour
-
1/2 cup
butter, melted
-
1/4 teaspoon
salt
- Once the batter is split
-
4 tablespoons
hibiscus powder, made from approx. 3 tbsp dried
-
juice of 1 meyer lemon
Directions
-
turn oven on to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a loaf pan.
-
In a stand-up mixer, mix eggs with sugar until light yellow and slightly frothy. Add the lemon zest, vanilla, and yogurt, while still mixing to incorporate into the batter.
-
Add the dry ingredients ( flour, salt, and baking powder) to the mixer, mixing very slowly, only until flour is mixed in.
-
Add the melted butter and mix until a smooth, consistent cake batter.
-
Now, separate half of the batter into another bowl. It does not matter which half goes where, nor does it need to be exact.
-
Lemon batter: add the freshly squeeze lemon juice, and stir in.
-
Hibiscus batter: stir in the freshly ground hibiscus powder into the other half of the batter.
-
Place pan in the oven and bake for approximately 70 minutes. Start checking the oven after 50 minutes, and check every 5-7 minutes, until a toothpick, knife, or cake tester comes out clean.
See what other Food52ers are saying.