This summer I’ve been having fun creating recipes using elderflower and there’s still time for one more! I made this cake for a college baking competition in lockdown where we were challenged to make a classic cake with a summer twist and decorate it with a range of soft fruit and fresh herbs. For me nothing is more classic than a jam sponge, and nothing’s more summer-y than elderflower and strawberries so along came an elderflower and strawberry jam sponge!

You can make this look really pretty by piping the butter cream and decorating the top with fresh flowers and fruit. I’ve gotten really into foraging recently so I found some fresh mint, wild strawberries, strawberry flowers and elderflowers to decorate this one. However, if you don’t have access to these you could use shop-bought mint and a selection of soft fruit (e.g strawberries, raspberries and blueberries) and if you’re not a fan of piping you could spoon the butter cream onto the cakes for an equally beautiful result!

Recipe

Serves 12

Time: 2-3 hours

Ingredients

For the cake

• 200g butter, plus extra for greasing
• 200g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 200g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp elderflower cordial

For the strawberry buttercream

• 400g icing sugar
• 100g butter
• 25ml strawberry puree (you can make this by boiling up 50g of frozen strawberries until they’re soft and then hand blending the mixture to make a puree)

For the decoration (optional)

• 4 elderflower heads
• A few fresh wild strawberries
• Fresh mint
• Fresh edible flowers (e.g strawberry flowers)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C and grease and line 3, 19cm round cake tins with butter and baking paper.
2. To make the cakes put the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, one by one, whisking well after each addition.
3. Add the flour and baking powder to the mixture and whisk again to combine.
4. Add the elderflower cordial to the cake mixture and whisk again until smooth. Pour the mixture into the 3 tins (I like to weigh how much I’m putting into each to make it equal) and use a spoon to level out the tops if need be so the batter is in an even layer in each tin.
5. Bake the cakes in the oven for about 20 minutes until golden brown and so that a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
6. Leave the cakes to cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn them out onto wire racks and leave them to cool completely.
7. Meanwhile make the butter cream. Put the icing sugar and butter into a bowl and beat until smooth. Slowly add the strawberry puree (about 1tbsp at a time) until the mixture is an even colour and just holds its shape.
8. Spoon the icing into a piping bag with a round nozzle and leave in the fridge until needed.
9. Once the cakes are completely cool place one on a cake stand or plate and pipe a layer of the icing on top. (I like to pipe blobs in concentric circles working from the outside to the middle).
10. Place another one of the cakes ontop and repeat the icing, another layer of cake and then a final layer of the icing.
11. To decorate take your chosen flowers, garnishes and so on and arrange them across the top. (If you’re using elderflower heads or any other self-picked topping a) make sure you’ve picked something that’s edible and b) make sure you give it a good shake, wash and dry before using it to get out any little bugs!). Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

 

Recipe

Serves 8-10

Time: 2-3 hours

Ingredients

For the banana cakes

• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 medium eggs
• 65g light brown sugar
• 100ml vegetable oil
• 75g pecan nuts, roughly chopped
• 180g self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder

For the banana caramel

• 100g banana chips
• 150g unsalted butter
• 150g caster sugar
• 50g golden syrup
• 397g condensed milk
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 tbsp sea salt

For the chocolate ganache

• 200g dark chocolate
• 200ml double cream

To assemble

• 300ml double cream
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
• 50g white chocolate
• A few banana chips to decorate

Method

1. Begin by making the cakes. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a 24x30cm swiss roll tin with butter and baking paper.
2. Peel the bananas, put them into a small bowl and blitz with a hand blender (or mash with a fork) to make a smooth puree. Set aside until needed.
3. Separate the eggs and put the egg yolks into a bowl with the sugar. Whisk with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the oil, chopped pecans and banana puree to the egg yolk mixture and then sift in the flour and baking powder. Fold everything together until a smooth batter is made.
5. In a spotlessly clean bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add these to the cake mixture and fold until uniform in colour.
6. Pour the mixture into the lined tin and tilt the tray to get the cake mixture to evenly cover the tray. Bake the cake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until risen and golden brown.
7. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Then turn the cake out onto a chopping board lined with baking paper and slice the cake into thirds horizontally so you have three slices of cake about 10x24cm in size. Leave to cool completely.
8. Now make the banana caramel. Put the banana chips into a food processor and grind into a coarse powder. Set aside until needed.
9. Put the butter, sugar, syrup, and condensed milk into a saucepan and stir over a low heat until the butter has melted.
10. Bring the mixture up to the boil and keep it there for about 10 minutes, stirring the whole time, until thick and golden brown (look at the photos above to see what the caramel should look like before and after being cooked).
11. Mash the banana with a fork in a small bowl. Add this mashed banana and the salt to the caramel just before it’s taken off the heat and stir to mix it in.
12. Take the caramel off the heat and leave to cool for 2 minutes. Then stir in the banana powder.
13. Re-line the tin you used to make the cake layer with butter and baking paper.  Then pour the caramel into the tin, smooth over to make an even layer and leave to cool in the fridge until set.
14. Once the caramel layer has set make the ganache. Roughly chop the chocolate and put it into a metal or glass bowl.
15. Pour the cream into a small saucepan and heat up to just below boiling.
16. Pour the cream over the chopped chocolate and stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour the mixture into a piping bag and leave in the fridge until needed (but not too long or it’ll set too much).
17. Finally put the cream and vanilla for the topping into a bowl and whisk to make soft peaks. Spoon this into a piping bag and leave in the fridge until needed.
18. When ready to start assembling the opera begin by turning the caramel out onto a chopping board and cutting it into 3 like you did the cake.
19. Take one of the banana sponges and place it on a board or plate. Pipe a layer of the whipped cream over the sponge and then smooth it out with a palette knife.
20. Carefully lay one of the pieces of caramel on top of the cream and then pipe a thin layer of ganache over that, smoothing it again with a palette knife.
21. Repeat the layering until you’ve pipped the final layer of ganache on the top (making sure it’s super smooth!). Put the cake in the fridge for about an hour (ideally longer) to set all the layers.
22. Melt the white chocolate in a glass or metal bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. Pour the melted chocolate into a piping bag. Cut a little bit off the end of the piping bag and practise piping ‘opera’ several times on a piece of greaseproof paper. You want the chocolate to be cool enough that it’s not pouring out of the pipping bag in a wiggly line, but still melted enough to pipe smoothly.
23. When ready pipe ‘opera’ onto the top of the cake. Take a sharp knife and trim the edges of the cake to make it look clean. Then top the cake with a couple of banana chips and serve!

 

Thanks for reading!

Emma x