Indulge in this irresistible comforting dessert, bake with love, that is creative and colourful and delicious
My cousin’s daughter and her lovely family visited us and brought a variety of sweet pastries for lunch. It had been years since we last met, and it was heartwarming to reconnect. She introduced us to her husband and kids, and I was amazed at how quickly time passes. It’s wonderful to say I’ve gone from being an aunt to a grand aunt—what a beautiful journey life is! I am grateful for my life in God’s hands and His wonderful gift of baking and cooking!
Dried blue pea flowers, also known as Butterfly Pea flowers, come from the Clitoria ternatea plant and are popular in Asia for cooking, Ayurvedic and Asian medicinal uses. They change colour when mixed with acidic ingredients like lemon juice, shifting from blue to purple or pink. The flowers have a light, sweet flavour, reminiscent of green tea. They contain antioxidants and anthocyanins, which may help with weight loss, blood sugar stabilization, and skin health. Dried blue pea flowers can be found at specialty online stores, some Asian markets, and certain supermarkets.
Since my last blue pea flower cake didn’t turn out blue as I wanted, I looked up recipes with blue food colouring and added melted chocolate for a marbling effect. I took a picture of half the cake before my niece, who was supposed to take some for her parents, kept it for herself and her husband. Later, my youngest sister came by and took the last two pieces, which I wanted for supper. The cake was colourful, moist, and delicious. Let’s bake!!!
Ingredients
250 g butter, melted
250 g plain flour
200 g castor sugar
4 eggs
120 ml thickened cream
1 Tbs dried blue pea flower
1 1/2 Tbs hot boiling water
1 1/2 Tsp baking powder
2 drops blue food colouring
pinch of salt
Dark chocolate tempering
100 g dark chocolate
1 Tsp truffle infused oil
5-7 Tbs full cream milk
Method
Do dark chocolate tempering in advance a few hours or a day
In a pot put enough water on medium heat. place glass bowl on top of pot without touching water and cover /sit on top to prevent steam from coming escaping.
Put dark chocolate into the bowl, stir middle out until chocolate melted completely. Remove and stir in oil until chocolate is glossy. Now add in 5 Tbs full cream milk, stir again to combined until it’s a thick liquidy form. Spoon or pour into a microwave jug. Set aside.
Note: if one day, chocolate will harden; do melt it again in microwave at interval 10 seconds each time and stirs.
Making the cake – next day
Preheat oven 160 degrees C. Grease and line a 20 cm round spring form pan.
In a small bowl, steep blue pea flowers in hot boiling water for 5 minutes. Strain and discard blue pea flowers. Set aside to cool.
Meantime, in a deep plate mix flour, baking powder and salt well. Set aside.
Beat butter until creamy about 5 minutes. Add in castor sugar and beat until light and fluffy about 5-7 minutes.
Add in egg one at a time, beating well each addition. Fold in flour mixture with a big metal spoon, alternate folding in thickened cream. Mix until well combined.
Spoon some batter into another metal bowl. Using a fine strainer, strain the blue pea flowers into the metal bowl with batter, stir well to get blue colour. Then add 2 drops of blue food colouring into the pea flowers batter. Stirs to coat well the batter.
Microwave the dark chocolate to softened it and stirs at intervals. Let it cool slightly. While dark chocolate cool, spoon some batter into the prepared pan, followed by blue batter and then pour some chocolate; making it looks like 3 spoonful colours on the base of pan. Repeat the process of 3 spoonful colours until finished.
Now using one beater to swirl make marble effect. Gently smooth the top and give a couple of gentle knocks on the bench top.
Bake for 60 minutes or until skewer out clean. When I pull out the oven metal tray to test the cake it was still liquid.
I increased the temperature to 175 degrees. Then I cover the pan with a bigger metal bowl and put back in the oven for 25 more minutes.
Test again after 25 more minutes time up. I prick 5 different places to make sure it’s cooked. Switched off oven, leaving cake in oven for 35 minutes with door closed.
Once time up, removed from oven onto wire rack to cool further 20 minutes. Then flip the cake out of pan onto a plate mat and flip back onto the cake plate mat. Transfer to container when it has cool completely. Enjoy with tea, and coffee !!!
Note: While generally safe, consuming large amounts blue pea flowers might lead to nausea or stomach upset, so pregnant women should consult a healthcare professional before use.
I read in one of the recipes can add a few drops of blue food colouring. The 3 recipes I browsed they have different temperatures: ranging from 160-180 degrees C.
I tried the temperatures at 160 degrees for 60 minutes, my cake still have liquid. I turned up temperatures to 175 degrees C and bake further 25 minutes. It came out cooked.
Instead of dark chocolate tempering, you can use cocoa for some lining instead of marble effects. You can make it in a loaf pan. Also garnish with fruits or cream or any decoration you wanted. Or use rose petals.
I have omitted vanilla essence for this cake. You can use it 1-2 Tsp vanilla essence if you like. You can use oil instead of truffle infused oil.
https://helenscchin.com/2025/07/11/blue-pea-flowers-chocolate-marble-cake/
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