Lemon and Elderflower Cake

 

In the run up to the Royal Wedding, there has been much talk about the flavour of the wedding cake; and what a stunning flavour combination it is! I’ve created my own simple version of this cake, combining these flavours. I hope you all enjoy it.

 

 

This recipe creates a 3 layer sponge cake. If you want to just make a 2 layer like above, then just reduce all of the ingredients by a third. Baking time is the same.

 

Ingredients:

Sponge:

400g Caster sugar

400g Unsalted butter, room temperature

6 Large Eggs

400g Self Raising Flour

1.5 tsp Baking Powder

3 Lemons – zest of 3 and juice of 2

70ml milk

Sugar Syrup:

3 tblsp Granulated sugar

3 tblsp Water

2 tbsp Elderflower cordial

Elderflower Icing:

100ml Elderflower Cordial

225g Unsalted butter, room temperature

610g Icing sugar – sieved – if you have time!

2 tblsp Warm water

 

 

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170C Fan/ 190C conventional.

Beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy/creamy. Add the eggs and give it a quick mix until combined.

Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix until combined. Add the milk and mix.

Stir through the lemon zest and juice.

Divide the mix between 3 tins – I only have 2 tins in this size so I guestimated the amount to leave behind for the third tin, which I baked once the first two sponges were out and on the cooling rack – freeing up a tin. Bake for approximately 28 minutes. Or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Cool in the tin. I then made the sugar syrup. To do this, add the sugar, elderflower cordial and water to a heavy based saucepan. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for a few minutes, or until the sugar has dissolved. I found this only took a few minutes. Take the pan off the heat and cool for approximately 5 minutes. Now use a knife or a skewer to poke many holes into the sponges. I then used a pastry brush to lightly brush the syrup over the top of the cakes, which will now soak into these holes. The sugar syrup helps to keep the sponges moist as well as adding more flavour into the cake.

Once cooled and the syrup has sunken in, I then levelled the cakes using a cake leveler as I feel this gets a really nice even look. Follow the link above to find the leveller that I use. It is really simple to use and gets a much more professional and tidy look to the cake. In the pictures I have added captions to show which cakes have been levelled and which have not, so that you can see the difference.

To make the elderflower icing – cream together the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Add the warm water whilst mixing. Once happy with the consistency and flavour of the icing, add the elderflower cordial. This comes down to personal preference so I would suggest just adding 50ml to start with, then taste. If a stronger flavour is preferred then add some more, a little at a time. I found that 100ml was perfect for me.

Now to decorate. I use a large palette knife – like this…

Place the first sponge onto whichever plate or stand you are planning to display the cake on. Then place a generous amount of the icing on top and spread. Place the next sponge on top to sandwich together. Repeat this process with the third sponge. Now to crumb coat the cake. Do this by placing dollops of the icing onto the cake and then using the palette knife to smooth over the cake, turning the plate as you go to make it easier for yourself. I find it easier to do all of the sides first and then to finish and neaten the top.

Just before the cake is to be served I added a little bit more icing to where I wanted to place the flowers and this fixed them to the cake.

 

Let me know how you get on. I am planning to do some videos – either on how to crumb coat and/or how to level cakes. Please do comment below to let me know which would be useful.

Enjoy!