Rose Cake - A special cake for my MOM!

Today is my mom's birthday! I decided to make something very special for her. She is my teacher, friend, philosopher, mentor...she is everything to me. She is a very soft person who always encourages everyone and I decided to make rose cake flavored with a kind of rose flower, panneer rose aka musk rose. It has a sweet fragrance. I chose this flower since my mom is like that flower - soft and spreads smile around her always like the fragrance of the rose. She loved it! It was a great surprise for her. The cake batter is flavored with the petals of the flower and with its essence. I also used a little of the essence for the whipped cream frosting. It gave the perfect balance in taste. I used simple buttercream to make roses (since my theme was rose). Each and every bite - absolute indulgence of rose flavor. Everyone loved the cake and above all my mom loved it and later called me again to say that the cake was THE BEST. Yeah - best cake for best MOM. I can understand that when everybody asked for second servings. Try this cake next time if you are a fan of Rose.

Ingredients

All-purpose flour/maida - 1 and 1/2 cups

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Baking powder - 1 and 1/2 tsp

Butter - 6 tbsp

Flaxseed powder - 1 tbsp

Milk - 1 cup

Fresh rose petals - 1/2 cup, medium packed

Rose essence - 1 tsp

Pink food color

Method

In a bowl add APF, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix well and keep aside. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease a 9-inch pan.

Crush (or run in your blender once) the rose petals with 1/2 cup sugar. 

Mix 1/4 cup milk with flaxseed powder and set aside. In a bowl, add the butter, remaining sugar, and sugar - petal mixture. Beat till light and fluffy. Add the flaxseed mixture, rose essence, milk, and continue beating. After adding milk, the mixture will look a little curdled but just continue ahead. 

Now slowly add the dry ingredients, 2 tbsp at a time, and beat well. Continue till all the dry mixture is incorporated into the wet mixture. 

Add a tiny amount of pink food color and mix well.

Pour it into a greased pan and bake for 26 - 28 min or till a toothpick inserted, comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. When completely cool, start decorating your cake as you wish.

For the frosting whipped cream - the same procedure how you do regular whipped cream but just add a tsp of rose essence instead of vanilla.

Pipe buttercream roses and decorate the cake as you like.

Tips

There are 2 varieties of this panneer rose - light and dark pink colored petals. Both of them are equivalent in taste and fragrance.