Hibiscus Bliss Cake Recipe

Hibiscus Bliss Cake Recipe with

Cranberry Buttercream Frosting by B.A. 

The neighborhood and the household have spoken! This Hibiscus Bliss Cake Recipe, hands down, surpasses all cakes I have ever made. The texture, the moistness, it will be half gone before you are done rolling your eyes in bliss.

A side note; if you are watching your sugar intake, this cake is so amazing, you don’t need the icing.  The icing will blow your mind but the cake can stand on its own, it is that amazing.

The more important side note is; you will need my family cranberry sauce recipe for the frosting.  And… I have not posted it yet. OOPS, sorry about that. Honestly, even if I did have it posted, you would be hard pressed to find cranberries this time of year (August). The only reason I have it made is, every year I freeze a batch or two.  I have a fix though! All you have to do is take a favorite marmalade and use it in its place. The cranberry recipe will be up very soon.

What you will need for the Hibiscus Bliss Cake ( frosting instructions will come later)

• 2 cups of sugar (I use turbinado)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
• 2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 teaspoons of crushed dried hibiscus flowers
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 cup of milk
• 1/2 cup of canola oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1 cup of tea (I used a cranberry based tea. Pick something in the family of… NOT peppermint. You get the idea.

(Continue to Instructions)

Getting Started

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease and lightly flour two 9 in. cake pans.

Brew 2 cups of tea and set aside.

If you are going to make the frosting, set our 1 1/2 sticks of butter to soften

Cake Mix From Scratch, No Box Here;

In a bowl add one cup of the hot tea and the two cups of sugar.  Stir to dissolve the sugar. (Set the remainder of the tea aside for the frosting)

In a large mixing bowl, add the remainder of your dry ingredients;  flour, crushed hibiscus flowers, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Mix these well and thoroughly.

Then add in the milk, canola oil and eggs and vanilla extract. Mix well.

Next, add in your 1 cup of tea with sugar. It should be warm at best.  If you can not keep your finger in it, cool it down.  You don’t want to add it in too hot, as it will scramble your eggs and you don’t want to do that!!

Mix this all well and thoroughly. Yes, yes, you can use a mixer but honestly, you can do it by hand too.  I always do.  Either way is just fine.

Separate your mixture into your two pans. Softly drop pans on counter to get any air bubbles to rise and pop.

Place in the oven and cook for 30 min. Do the ol’ toothpick check at the 30 min. mark, some of you may need another 5 min.

Insights from B.A.

• **B.A. tip; I have found when cooking in an oven; when you can smell something, it usually means it is done, or at the very least needs to be checked on.  I don’t mean a burning smell but the aaaaah, that smells divine smell.  Put it in practice and let me know what you think?

Alrighty, take the lovelies out and set them somewhere to cool. I will tell you to put them up on a rack, so that air can circulate all around the cake pan.  This way you won’t get an accumulation of moisture in the bottom center portion of your cakes and release from the pan will be easier.

Now let’s talk frosting!

You will need:

• 1 1/2 sticks of softened butter
• 2 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar
• 1/4 cup of  cooled brewed tea
• 3 tablespoons of cranberry sauce  (use a marmalade of your choice.. an orange or lemon would be good)

Cream your butter and cranberry sauce together.

Then slowly add confectioners sugar and tea to your cranberry/butter mixture. I will usually add a 1/4 cup of sugar and with splash of tea.  Keep this going until your confectioners sugar is completely mixed in.  You may or may not need all the tea to get your desired frosting texture…. or you may need to add a bit more if your sugar/ cranberry mixture is too dry.

When your cakes are cool to the touch, remove from their pans and frost away.

Ok…. so THIS is where I have a problem.  I can NEVER, hold out till they are cool and you will see what happens in this photo, when you do not wait. The frosting will melt into the cake. Still tastes great, just doesn’t look Betty Crocker fantastic. In the end, I find nobody really cares. If you are impatient like B.A. go for it but honestly, if you can hold out, it will make for a much prettier cake.

Thank you so much for taking the time to check out my Hibiscus Bliss Cake with Cranberry Buttercream Frosting Recipe.  If you used it, I hope you enjoyed it. Did you make changes to it?  Please leave a comment and let me know. If you liked this recipe, you may want to look at my LAVENDER & LEMON COOKIES,  You can check out my other recipes on my blog; COOKING ON THE FLY WITH BA.  Most of my recipes are super simple and really deliver in taste.

Also, please take a min to peruse my STOREFRONT. I’m actually an artist, who loves cooking.  Finally, I would love to see you on my FB PAGE.  Feel free to reach out and join me there.

Have a splendid day in the kitchen!!

Peace, Love and Rocks

B.A.