Citrus in winter, or any gray day, extends a hand of sunny brightness. I remember watching Florida sunshine TV commercials for oranges in the midst of my childhood Pittsburgh winter dread. These made me want to go to Florida much more than want to eat an orange. Still, I have a strong association with citrus fruit and the sun. Maybe it’s the colors, vivid orange, yellow, pink, so much like how I think of the sun. Perhaps it’s the crisp, sparkly flavor with a perfect sweet and sour balance that has a cheer-up effect similar to feeling the sun warm on my face after a long winter. I’m sure I first heard about Vitamin C in context of oranges being its best source.
The food industry has changed dramatically from the time I was first associating oranges and sun together. But citrus fruits seem to have retained there relationship to sunshine. They have, though, lost their place as best Vitamin C source to rosehips.
Rosehips, which appear in late summer or early autumn as lovely rose flowers begin to fade, take on the role of a rose’s fruit. Their concentration of Vitamin C is extremely high with additional nutritional benefits from flavonoids and antioxidants. Rosehips’ mildly sweet, mostly tangy flavor lends super well to jams, jellies, preserves, syrups and pies.
So, combine rose hip with orange and get sunshine and nutrients. I flavored this orange cake with the juice and grated rind of a dazzling, deep pink blood orange then spooned a concentrated rose hip syrup over the top allowing it to soak in, just like the sun. 
It may sound complicated, but it was not! I used dried rose hips that I bought from Mountain Rose Herbs, as obviously here at the end of winter there are no fresh available. I hope you give it a try and leave me a note to tell me if you feel a little brighter!
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 32small triangles | 25-30minutes |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 30minutes | 30 minutes to prepare rose hip tea |
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- For rose hip tea
- 1/4 cup dried rose hips
- 1 1/4 cup (300ml) water
- For orange cake
- 1 cup (125g) organic all-purpose flour, sifted
- 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 sticks (1/2lb) organic unsalted butter
- 5 organic eggs, separated
- 1 cup (200g) organic granulated sugar
- 1 orange, grated rind and juice blood orange if available
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- For rose hip syrup
- 1 cup (240ml) rose hip tea
- 1 cup (240ml) water
- 1 cup (200g) organic granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons rose water
- Tea can be prepared 1-2 days in advance and stored in covered jar in the refrigerator.
- Combine dried rose hips and water in small saucepan. Bring to gentle boil over medium low heat. Cover, remove from heat and steep for 30 minutes.
- Strain rose hip tea into a glass measuring cup. Use a fine mesh strainer lined with a cheese cloth cut to drape over the edges of the strainer. Measure tea to assure that you have 1 cup. If you have more, return to saucepan and simmer to reduce to 1 cup. If you have less, add more water to reach 1 cup level.
- Adjust oven rack to center of oven. Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a 9-inch square baking pan by buttering all over.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Set aside
- Melt butter in small saucepan or microwave and set aside to cool slightly while mixing egg yolks and sugar.
- Separate eggs, place egg yolks in bowl of electric mixer, reserve egg whites to beat separately. With whisk attachment, beat yolks on medium speed just to combine.
- With mixer running, gradually add sugar, scraping down sides as needed to combine completely with yolks. Beat for 5 minutes until mixed well and slightly paler in color.
- Stir in melted butter, grated orange rind and orange juice by hand, then whisk for a minute with electric mixer.
- Add flour and baking powder mixer. Mix on lowest speed until flour is just incorporated. Remove from mixer and transfer to large bowl.
- Clean mixer bowl and whisk attachment completely and dry. Combine egg whites and salt in mixer bowl and beat on high until egg whites hold stiff peaks.
- Fold 1 cup beaten egg whites into batter to lighten. Then gradually add remaining egg whites, folding gently, until just combined well.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes in preheated oven until tester comes out clean.
- Cool orange cake in pan on wire rack. Prepare rose hip tea and syrup while cake is cooling. Spoon hot syrup all over cooled cake allowing to soak in and adding more syrup as it soaks into cake. You may have a bit of extra syrup.
- Allow cake to stand a bit as syrup soaks in completely, then cut into small diamond or triangle shapes. Store covered with plastic wrap or in covered container.
- Combine rose hip tea, water and sugar in small saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat. Boil 10 minutes uncovered. Stir in rose water.
*Using organic ingredients whenever possible will make your baked goods all the more nourishing. For this cake, use organic butter, sugar, eggs, flour and orange if available.
Dried rose hips can be purchased from online source such as Mountain Rose Herbs or Rosemary's Garden. Rose water can also be purchased online.
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