Skip to main content
Sponge cake decorated with flowers with a slice removed and on a white plate in the foreground. Hand reaching in to take a bite of the slice
45Total Time
20Prep Time
25Bake Time
16Serves
Easy

Elderflower & Lemon Cake

Celebrity recipe

6 Reviews

  • Vegetarian

About our elderflower and lemon cake recipe

Our friend Juliet Sear has developed this wonderfully tasty elderflower and lemon cake recipe for you.

This recipe makes an 8" deep round cake. If you want to make a deeper cake for a larger celebration such as a wedding, you can double the quantities and spread the batter between 4 cake tins rather than just 2.

For those of you who are gluten free, try out our gluten free Elderflower & lemon cake.

45Total Time
20Prep Time
25Bake Time
16Serves
Easy

Method

  1. Step 1:

    Preheat the oven to 180'c, 160'c fan, gas mark 4. 

  2. Step 2:

    Mix the flour and baking powder together in a large bowl. 

  3. Step 3:

    Cream together the butter, sugar, cordial and lemon zest until light and fluffy. Gradually add in the eggs until incorporated. 

  4. Step 4:

    Gently mix in the flour and baking powder until just lightly mixed.

  5. Step 5:

    Spoon the mixture into two greased 8" cake tins. 

  6. Step 6:

    Bake for 25-35 minutes or until cooked and turn out onto a wire rack.

  7. Step 7:

    While the cakes are baking, place the lemon juice, water, elderflower cordial and sugar into a saucepan and heat gently until the caster sugar has dissolved completely. 

  8. Step 8:

    Whilst the cakes are warm, spear in lots of holes with a skewer through the sponges and drizzle the elderflower syrup with a pastry brush to ensure it's all even over both cakes so that it soaks in. 

  9. Step 9:

    Make the buttercream by beating the icing sugar, butter and cordial together until very pale, fluffy and creamy. 

  10. Step 10:

    Layer the sponge by spreading over some buttercream and then adding some lashings of lemon curd. Sandwich together and chill for 20-30 minutes. 

  11. Step 11:

    To decorate this in a pretty rough iced way, it is simple. No need to crumbcoat. Just generously palette all over with a palette knife, allowing the palette marls to pattern the cake, then top with edible flowers if you wish or simple with additional lemon zest or slices. 

Ingredients

  • For the Sponge

    • 200g Self Raising Flour
    • 1 tsp Baking powder
    • 200g Butter (unsalted)
    • 200g Billington's Unrefined Golden Caster Sugar
    • 4 Eggs (medium)
    • 2 tbsp Elderflower cordial
    • Zest Lemons x2
  • For the Drizzle

    • Juice Lemon x1
    • 30ml Water
    • 2 tbsp Elderflower cordial
    • 70g Billington's Unrefined Golden Caster Sugar
  • For the Buttercream

    • 500g Billington's Unrefined Golden Icing Sugar
    • 225g Butter (unsalted)
    • 2 tbsp Elderflower cordial

Utensils

  • 2x 8in cake tin

Great recipes and more at BakingMad.com

Exclusive gifts and kits to take your baking to the next level Competitions and baker of the month prizes More than 1,000 recipes to try.