Rose Scents and Honeybells!

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature

is that all of us tend to put off living.

We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon

~ instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.

~ Dale Carnegie

These are the cheerful, sunshine colors of roses that I intend to first plant in the Texas garden. Not only are they beautiful in their color, the scent of roses reminds me of Grandmother Grace. They seem pretty to me not only during summer months, but also in the fall...my favorite season! Good day Sunshine......I need to laugh, and when the sun is out, I've got something I can laugh about, I feel good, in a special way. I'm in love and it's a sunny day......

Honeybell Cake

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

10 Tablespoons salted butter, softened

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup honeybell orange juice, fresh squeezed, approximately 2

Zest of one honeybell orange

3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease with butter or pan spray a 9” x 13” glass baking dish. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Scrape down bowl and mix again. Add yogurt, juice and vanilla. Mix till combined. Scrape down bowl and mix again. Add flour mixture; mix till mixture is combined, scraping down bowl once more. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Let cool before taking out of bundt pan, slicing and spreading the orange curd!

Honeybell Orange Curd

2 tsp of gelatin unflavored

¼ cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 ½ cups of sugar

8 large egg yolks

2 or 3 tsp of grated ripe lemon (depends on preference)

1 cup of fresh squeezed Florida Honeybell Oranges

3 tbsp of grated Florida Honeybell Orange peel

1 ½ sticks of butter or ¾ cups

Gather all your ingredients except for the lemon juice and gelatin. First pour the lemon juice into a small bowl. Now sprinkle the gelatin on top of it. Let these ingredients stand for approximately fifteen minutes while you prepare the remaining ingredients.


Combine yolks, Honeybell orange peeling, Honeybell orange juice, lemon peel and sugar. Combine all these ingredients in a large saucepan or similar dish. The saucepan or dish needs to be heavyweight. Whisk the ingredients together. After ingredients are whipped, place saucepan over medium heat, add butter and continue to whip until the mixture begins to thicken. This process should take approximately 10 minutes. The lemon juice and gelatin is now ready to add to this mixture. Combine the ingredients stirring a little more until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Remove ingredients from the saucepan then place in a covered refrigerator dish to chill overnight. When cake has cooled, slice in half, spread the curd throughout the middle and replace the top of the cake! I add a fresh dollop of whipped cream and sprinkle with powdered sugar! So fresh, so elegant!