Hip Hip Hooray Rosehip Drizzle Cake
Rosehips are ready to pick in autumn, around October to early December. This drizzle cake celebrates their caramel, earthy flavour, while its jewelled colour reflects the season itself.
If you haven't done any foraging before, rosehips are a great place to start because they are easy to spot and identify. Rosehips from the dog rose are the go-to: they are deemed to be the richest in flavour. You can find a picture of what to look for by scrolling down this page.
Rosehips are ready to pick in autumn, around October to early December. This drizzle cake celebrates their caramel, earthy flavour, while its jewelled colour reflects the season itself.
If you haven't done any foraging before, rosehips are a great place to start because they are easy to spot and identify. Rosehips from the dog rose are the go-to: they are deemed to be the richest in flavour. You can find a picture of what to look for by scrolling down this page.
Preparing the syrup takes a bit of effort but I promise it will be worth it. Leftover syrup can be drizzled over ice cream, used as a cordial in sparkling water, or simply eaten by the spoonful. It's rich in vitamin C, so it's practically medicinal! In fact, according to one story from the 1st century, the dog rose got its name when, in a dream, a woman was told to make a decoction of it to cure her son, a soldier, who had been bitten by a rabid dog. There are other origin stories, but I favour that one. |
If you don't have any rosehip syrup but fancy giving this recipe a try, I've provided an alternative syrup idea which is a great transitional flavour as we move in to the festive season.
Makes one 2lb loaf cake, or two 1lb loaf cakes. The cake will freeze well but, if you're doing this, wait until you're ready to serve the cake before adding the syrup drizzle.
Ingredients
For the cake
For the rosehip drizzle
Equipment
Method: Rosehip Syrup
You can make this a few days before. Keep it in the fridge in a sterilised jar, or freeze the juice and make it up into the syrup when you’re ready.
Method: Cake
Alternative syrup idea
For a different take on this drizzle cake/if you don’t have any rosehips, juice five oranges and put the juice into a pan with a splash of Grand Marnier and some cloves. Add sugar (the general rule is for every 100ml of liquid, add about 60g of sugar). Dissolve the sugar over a gentle heat, then bring to the boil. As soon as it’s boiled, remove it from the heat, remove the cloves, and leave to cool.
Makes one 2lb loaf cake, or two 1lb loaf cakes. The cake will freeze well but, if you're doing this, wait until you're ready to serve the cake before adding the syrup drizzle.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 225g self-raising flour
- 225g butter
- 225g caster sugar
- 4 eggs, lightly whisked
- 2 lemons (zest only)
For the rosehip drizzle
- Hips from the dog rose
- Caster sugar (see quantities in the method below)
Equipment
- 2lb loaf tin, lined with baking parchment
Method: Rosehip Syrup
You can make this a few days before. Keep it in the fridge in a sterilised jar, or freeze the juice and make it up into the syrup when you’re ready.
- Collect the rosehips and wash them thoroughly (aim for at least 150g of hips). Remove the stalks.
- Roughly chop the rosehips using a very sharp knife. The insides of a roseship can be skin irritants, so use gloves.
- In a pressure cooker, place the rosehips and about 2 inches of water. Cook on a low heat for about 25 minutes. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, place the hips in a large pan, covered with water and cook on a low heat, stirring and mashing (with a potato masher) occasionally. This will take a bit longer.
- Strain the juice overnight through muslin. Stretch a piece of muslin across a large bowl using a large elastic band, ladle the hips on top of the stretched muslin and allow to slowly drip through. Don’t apply any force – this will cloud the juice. Leave it to drip through overnight.
- If there’s any rosehip hairs in the juice, strain it again through the muslin.
- Optional: Put the collected juice to one side. Put the rosehips back into a pan with a few inches of water. Cook again to extract more juice, and repeat step 4.
- Measure your juice and then put it into a large pan. For every 100ml of liquid, add about 60g of sugar. Heat slowly until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil. As soon as it boils, remove it from the heat. Pour it into sterilised jars. Once cool, keep it in the fridge (it will last for a few months).
Method: Cake
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan).
- Beat the butter and sugar together using an electric whisk until they’re pale and fluffy.
- Add the lemon zest and mix again.
- Alternate splashes of egg with spoonfuls of flour, whisking between additions to prevent curdling.
- Add 2 tbsp boiled and slightly cooled water to the mixture, and mix again.
- Pour into the prepared tin and bake for approximately 45 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then use a skewer to poke holes all over the top (right to the bottom of the pan).
- Drizzle over about 100ml of the rosehip syrup. If you want, you can sprinkle granulated sugar over the top for a sugar crust.
- Leave to cool and then remove from the tin and serve alongside more syrup. Leftover syrup can also be spooned over ice cream!
Alternative syrup idea
For a different take on this drizzle cake/if you don’t have any rosehips, juice five oranges and put the juice into a pan with a splash of Grand Marnier and some cloves. Add sugar (the general rule is for every 100ml of liquid, add about 60g of sugar). Dissolve the sugar over a gentle heat, then bring to the boil. As soon as it’s boiled, remove it from the heat, remove the cloves, and leave to cool.