Joséphine ruffle cake

Now that it is the month of June, the garden has really come to life. Without noticing it, a miracle has happened. Our walls are like romantic fragrant moodboards pinned with hundreds of beautiful shell pink roses. Having only lived in the country-side for less than two years, gardening has become a new passion. I am discovering flowers and plants everyday and getting a whole new level of ‘green’ education. I am fascinated by all the variety of roses, as there are more than three thousand of them. I can just imagine how lucky Josephine, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, was when she established the most beautiful rose garden in Malmaison containing all the roses in the world.

Naturally, roses are my main inspiration these days. I wanted to fulfill this visual treat and add some sweetness to it, so I baked a cake dedicated to the rose garden. Roses and ruffles. I love old-fashioned cakes, something out of time and delicate. An edible fantasy turned into reality!

ps: Happy mother’s day to all the French mothers! It’s mother’s day in France today!

Ingredients:

Cake:

225 grs self-raising flour
225 grs butter, at room temperature
225 grs caster sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
Mix all the ingredients into a large bowl and use an electric whisk on a low-speed. If you want a layer cake, pour the mixture into 2 non-stick (18cm) tins. I used a bundt cake pan (with a ‘swirled’ top and hole in the middle). Place them in the oven till golden brown 15-25 minutes, or until the ‘test-knife’ comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack before decorating.

Buttercream vanilla icing:

140 grs softened butter
150 grs icing/ confectioner’s sugar – sifted
1 tbsp vanilla essence
A pinch of salt
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp red food colouring

Roses for decoration. (Mine are organic)

Mix sifted icing sugar, butter, vanilla essence, salt and milk together in a large bowl. Refrigerate icing in the fridge for 30 minutes so it becomes firm. Sandwich the two cakes with a 1 cm thick icing layer. Fill a pastry bag with the pink buttercream and use a flat line tip for piping (a vertical slit about 1.5 cm length and 3-4mm thick). Start from the bottom of your cake and pipe in a back and forth direction (approx 2-3 cm wide). Repeat all over the cake. Remember, practice makes perfect!

Decorate with beautiful garden roses. Mine are organic.

10 thoughts on “Joséphine ruffle cake

  1. Bonjour, please look at peonies as well as roses. They are like over the top voluptuous middle aged ladies with large chests! They are very feminine and romantic but unfortunately not the scent of roses. Regards Ali.

  2. ADORE your blog. You must be the sweetest person ever. Seriously. I have a question about conversions – (I’m a US girl) when I use a conversion calculator – it comes out odd from gram to cups. Do you know, is it ok to just round to nearest equivalent measurement? I get nervous doing that with baking and wasn’t sure if you knew?
    Thanks!
    Abby

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