Spring is in the air!  By this statement I mean I can smell Jasmine, Orange blossoms, Gardenias  and all the gorgeous floral aromas that I associate with the warmer weather. I know it may not be a fun time of year for those with hay fever and allergies, but I love the overpowering sickly sweet honey aroma’s of blossoming flowers.

I wanted to make a cake which captured that smell precisely. So this morning I went into my garden and picked a big bunch of Jasmine and put it in a milk jug. This was for no other reason than inspiration. While I was going about my normal daily duties the gorgeous aroma was teasing me.  A plan started to take shape, the cake needed to be buttery with a delicious honey and orange blossom flavour.  I decided to make a matching syrup just to ensure the floral flavour was as intense as I wanted.

Once the cakes were baked I could no longer tell which aroma was from the cake, the syrup or the original flowers. There was a melding of aroma’s.

Mr GG is not a sweet tooth, so I expected this experiment to be met with very little enthusiasm.  He particularly dislikes the Jasmine bush because it grows over our native garden... oops! Anyway, I got the big thumbs up , he even slurped up extra syrup on the second cake.

So here is a nice way to welcome in the springtime!

Ingredients:

6 egg whites

185gm butter (melted)

2 Tbs honey

1 Tbs Orange Blossom Water

1 cup ground almond

1 ½ cup icing sugar

½ cup plain flour

½ cup flaked almonds (decoration)

Honey Syrup:

2 Tbs Honey

1 Tbs Water

2 TBS Orange Blossom Water

Method:

Lightly grease a friand mould and preheat oven to 170 degrees.

Whisk the egg whites until just combined.  Add the melted butter, honey and orange blossom water and whisk again to combine.

Add the almond meal, flour and sifted icing sugar and combine with a wooden spoon.

Pour the mixture into the mould.

Add the flaked almonds to the top of the Friand and cook until golden 10-15mins.

In a microwave safe dish (small crockery jug) make the sugar syrup by placing the honey and water in the bowl and microwaving for 1 minute. Remove from the microwave and add the orange blossom water. Drizzle the syrup over the friend. Allow to stand for a few minutes to soak up the syrup and then serve.