This lemon & elderflower drizzle cake is inspired by Harry & Meghan's choice of wedding cake. It's an amazing flavour combination - zesty lemon & floral elderflower. This drizzle cake absolutely delicious - I've been testing it out on my friends this week! It's soft, light and delicate, but also buttery & moist. The recipe is completely foolproof as well.

Here's a few tips for making the perfect lemon & elderflower drizzle cake. It makes a huge difference if all your ingredients are at room temperate before you bake, and the oven is pre-heated. Creaming the butter & sugar together very well at the beginning will give you a lovely light sponge. An electric whisk is best for this job.

Cold eggs will solidify the butter when you add them so it's essential that eggs are kept at room temperature. Adding eggs gradually, whisking well between each addition, will keep the mixture from splitting. If it does split (i.e. goes a bit slimy) just whisk in a spoon of the flour and that should fix it.

I have found that a combination of plain and self-raising flour gives a lovely evenly-risen soft sponge. Most recipes call for just self-raising, but I have found that a combination works very well for drizzle cakes because the drizzle doesn't run off the top. If you prefer a more domed cake, use all self-raising flour instead.

Lemon and Elderflower Drizzle Cake Flatlay.jpg

Just a quick note about tin sizes - I like to make a wider flat-ish lemon & elderflower drizzle cake rather than a deep one, because a bigger surface area means more of that lovely drizzle topping per slice. I have a 23cm round tin which I like to use. A square tin also works well and you can cut the cake into 16 little squares which is quite nice for smaller servings. If you use a small, deeper tin, your oven times may vary.

Granulated sugar gives a nice crunchy topping - I prefer it to plain. I love to use demerera sugar for plain lemon drizzle, but not for lemon & elderflower drizzle cake as the demerera is quite over powering with the elderflower. Microwave your lemons for a few seconds to get more juice out of them.

Finally - pour over the drizzle glaze while the cake is still in the tin or it will run off the cake onto the floor! Pour the drizzle over while the cake is still warm and remove from the tin when completely cold. Decorate with flowers to make it look pretty if you like. Enjoy.

Lemon and Elderflower Drizzle Cake Slice.jpg

Lemon & Elderflower Drizzle Cake {for Harry & Meghan}

Makes: 8-10 slices
Prep time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

175g unsalted butter (at room temperature) plus extra for greasing
175g caster sugar
3 large eggs (at room temperature)
2 unwaxed lemons, juice & finely grated zest of
4 tablespoons elderflower cordial
75g plain flour (plus extra for the tin)
100g self-raising flour
Splash of milk to loosen (optional)
75g granulated sugar

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 160 fan / 180 C / gas mark 4.
Line a 23cm round springform tin with greaseproof paper (or another sized tin - see notes). Brush the inside of the tin all over with a little butter and sprinkle with flour. Tilt the tin around to coat the inside completely with the flour and tip out any excess.
In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar together with an electric whisk or wooden spoon. Gradually incorporate the eggs (around 2 tbsp at at time) mixing well after each addition.
Add the lemon zest, along with 2 tbsp of the lemon juice, and elderflower cordial and mix again.
Sieve the flours together into the bowl and fold into the mixture using a rubber spatula or metal spoon.
Add a splash of milk to the mixture to loosen if necessary. The consistency of the mixture should be that it just falls off a spoon when shaken over the bowl.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and spread to smooth it out into an even layer. Bake for around 35 minutes until golden, springy to touch and a skewer comes out clean (cooking times my vary depending on tin size - see notes).
Remove the cake from the oven and prick all over using a cocktail stick. Do not remove the cake from the tin.
Mix the remaining lemon juice with granulated sugar to make a syrup and spoon all over the warm cake to make an even layer of drizzle. Leave the cake in the tin to cool completely before removing and transferring to a serving dish. Keeps for up to 3 days in an air tight container.