I’ve long been a fan of New Orleans–based baker Bronwen Wyatt. Her squiggly, floral-decorated cakes are beautiful to look at, but as an avid baker myself, I also turn to her page for flavor inspiration. Recently I double-tapped on an olive oil chiffon cake, filled with fig leaf custard and decorated with vanilla bean and fiori di Sicilia buttercream. That last ingredient piqued my interest—I’d never heard of it before.
A little research revealed that fiori di Sicilia is a baker’s extract similar to vanilla, but with a subtle citrusy flavor. “I love orange flower water in buttercream, so I was intrigued by a more explicitly citrus-based extract,” Wyatt told me. As the lesser-known extract started to appear more frequently in Wyatt’s buttercreams, I ordered a bottle online to try for myself. I’ve officially fallen head over heels for this Italian ingredient, and I know you will too.
What is fiori di Sicilia?
If you want to add citrusy flavor to your bakes, your first instinct might be to reach for the microplane. But according to Roy Shvartzapel, the pastry chef behind From Roy, fresh lemon or orange zest doesn’t pack much of a punch. “Zest is certainly not the most effective way [to add citrusy flavor to baked goods], because the most pungent it will ever be is before it goes in the oven,” says Shvartzapel. “A concentrated extract is designed to withstand heat and be in an oven for a long time.”
Fiori di Sicilia, which translates to “flowers of Sicily,” has a distinct aroma: bright and citrusy, but with warm undertones of vanilla and bergamot, an aroma you might recognize from Earl Grey tea. The scent has a can’t-put-a-finger-on-it quality that makes it utterly intoxicating. “It smells very pleasant, but it’s not very apparent what exactly it is,” baking blogger Joy Huang says, noting hints of vanilla and citrus. Wyatt says it smells like “scratching a grapefruit and inhaling the scent.” Some people love the scent so much, they dab it on their wrists as perfume.
Fiori di Sicilia Pound CakeGet This Recipe
You might recognize the flavors of fiori di Sicilia when you bite into the sweet Italian panettone that pops up over the holidays. Traditionally, panettone has a pronounced citrus flavor, but Shvartzapel says you’ll rarely see fiori di Sicilia named on an ingredients list. That’s because it’s really just another name for citrus essence, he tells me. “It’s a beautifully romantic-sounding name for sure,” Shvartzapel says.
Shvartzapel uses a custom blend of citrus essence in his panettone dough; he worked with a producer to strike just the right balance of lemon, lime, and orange notes. But most commercial brands don’t sell blended citrus extract—just lemon extract or orange extract, which don’t capture the same aromatic qualities. King Arthur Baking Company doesn’t disclose much on the ingredient label of its fiori di Sicilia (“Natural Flavors” and “Vitamin E” are the only components listed), but describes the extract as a “delicious blend of citrus and vanilla.” Compared to the lemon extract you’ll find at the grocery store, fiori di Sicilia has a more distinct floral, Creamsicle-like quality.
How to use fiori di Sicilia:
Though it’s often used in panettone, the extract’s uses extend past the festive season: You can substitute fiori di Sicilia in any recipe that calls for vanilla. It brings floral, fragrant complexity to shortbread cookies or buttercream. It adds unmistakable flavor to Aleksandra Crapanzano’s Fiori di Sicilia Pound Cake recipe from her cookbook, Gateau.