Lemon & Elderflower Celebration Cake, To Be Eaten in The Peak District

 

I made this cake to celebrate our friends’ recent nuptials when a group of us went away to the Peak District. I’d never baked a cake this big before but it was surprisingly simple to make and very tasty – if I do say so myself (it did also go down well with everyone else who ate it)! Recipe below, along with a few photos from our weekend away.

You will need:

450g golden caster sugar

450g self-raising flour

6 eggs

100g natural yoghurt

50ml milk

450g butter, at room temp

Zest of 1 lemon, plus the juice

3 tbsp elderflower cordial

For the icing:

250g butter, softened

300g cream cheese

700g icing sugar

Zest of 1 lemon

Heat your oven to 140c fan. Whisk the eggs, yogurt and milk together. Beat the butter and sugar together and when light and fluffy, add the flour, the liquid and lemon zest. Mix again until smooth. Divide the cake mixture between 3 x 20cm cake tins and bake for 40 mins, until a skewer comes out clean. Mix the lemon juice and elderflower cordial and when the cakes have cooled completely in the tins, poke all over the surface with a cocktail stick and then spoon the syrup over the cakes.

To make the icing, beat the butter until smooth, add half the icing sugar, then whisk again. Add the remaining icing sugar, cream cheese and lemon zest and whisk until smooth. 

Stack the three cakes with plenty of icing between each layer. Pile most of the remaining icing on top, then spread it across the top and down the sides, covering the cake in swirls. Decorate however you want!