I have a sneaky suspicion this might be cake flavour of the year! Due to a very imminent royal wedding! I’m not sure they will have Gin in theirs but if anyone was going to make a cake with Gin in, it would be me….
Lakes Distillery have very kindly gifted me some Elderflower Gin Liqueur and I’ve decorated the cake with some stunning edible flowers from GroLiverpool.
Ingredients:
- 8oz Self-raising Flour
- 8oz Unsalted Butter (room temperature) or Stork
- 8oz Caster Sugar
- 4 Large Eggs
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- Finely grated zest of 1 Lemon
- Good glug Elderflower Cordial (good quality)
Elderflower Gin Syrup
- 25ml Elderflower Gin
- 2x TBSP Caster sugar
- Juice of half a lemon
Buttercream:
- 200g Icing Sugar
- 200g Unsalted Butter
- Glug of Elderflower Gin
- Edible Flowers for Decoration
Method:
Preheat Oven to 165 degrees Fan. Line and grease 2x 6″ cakes pans.
Step One
In a large bowl mix your butter/stork, caster sugar and grated lemon zest until it’s well combined, light in colour and fluffy (the fluffier the better).
Step Two
Crack the eggs into a separate bowl, whisk a little and then add to the butter and sugar mixture along with all the flour and the baking powder. Mix until well combined. Start off mixing and slowly increase the speed.
Step Three:
Once its all combined add the plug of elderflower cordial and stir through.
Step Four
Divide the mixture into the two baking tins and pop into the oven for around 35minutes.
Do not check your cakes for at least 25 minutes. This will affect the oven temperature which will spoil the bake!
You can tell when they’re baked if they have started to shrink away from the sides slightly and if you insert a skewer/knife into the centre and it comes out clean. Carefully take out of the tins and cool on a wire rack until they’re completely cool.
Step Five
While the cakes are cooling mix together the ingredients for the syrup in a jug. And you can also prepare the buttercream whipping up the butter until light and fluffy, gradually adding the sugar and then adding the Elderflower Gin at the end.
Step Six
Once the cakes are cool cut any uneven top off the cake and then cut cake horizontally in half wth a long serrated knife, using a pastry brush, drizzle each sponge with the syrup.
Step Seven
Sandwich the sponges together with the buttercream and use one of the bottom of the sponges as the top of the cake so the top is nice and level. Pop in the freezer for 10 minutes to set, then cover the entire cake in a thin layer of buttercream to create the semi-naked effect.
And as usual – top with flowers, display on a cake stand and VOILA!!
If you have any questions please comment below 🙂 and let me know if you’ve tried this recipe!
Lots of love, Emma.hellocake xx
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