Lemon and Elderflower Drizzle Cake

Summer is the perfect time for fruity flavours! I love lemon all year round, but there’s something about the summer that makes me love it just that little bit more. Last week, I felt like baking something lemony and my mind went to a drizzle cake straightaway. A lemon drizzle cake is delicious, but I was looking for something a little bit different this time. And then I thought of adding elderflower and I figured it would be the perfect combination! (Also, fun fact: apparently Prince Harry and Megan Markle’s wedding cake was lemon and elderflower too – so it must be good, right?)

I baked the cake you see in the pictures on Thursday, but while it was delicious, I wasn’t entirely satisfied with it. All I tasted was lemon – the elderflower in the drizzle didn’t come through at all. In hindsight, it was pretty obvious why; lemon is sour as all heck and elderflower has a very subtle taste. So, I decided to make the cake again on Saturday, this time using only elderflower in the drizzle and leaving the lemon for the cake itself. The result was much better! The elderflower flavour is still very subtle, but I think that’s kind of the point of elderflower in the first place.

As with my previous recipe, I filmed the entire endeavour for my YouTube channel, so if you want visual instructions as well as a written recipe, you can take a look at the video below the list of ingredients!

You’ll need… 

For the cake

• 125 g unsalted butter, softened
• 140 g granulated sugar
• 3 medium-sized eggs
• 200 g plain flour
• 40 g cornflour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 1 lemon (juice + zest)

For the drizzle + topping

• 5 tablespoons elderflower cordial
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (to sprinkle on top)

The rest

• springform tin (18 cm, but 20 will still work too)
• parchment paper
• electric mixer (hand or stand)
• grater
• juicer (or you can just squeeze the lemon)
• and an oven of course! This cake needs to be baked at 180 °C (don’t forget to preheat your oven!)

So, let’s get baking!

1. Mix butter and sugar Take a large bowl and cream the butter and sugar. This means you mix them together with your electric mixer (I used a hand mixer) until pale and fluffy.

2. Add eggs one by one Next, add the eggs one by one, mixing them through in between each time using the mixer.

3. Add dry ingredients You can put aside the mixer because from now on you’ll just need a spatula. Sieve the flour, cornflour and baking powder into the bowl and also add a pinch of salt. Fold them through using the spatula.

4. Add lemon juice and zest Zest the lemon and add all of it to the batter. Also juice or squeeze the lemon and add all of the juice to the batter as well. Fold this through the batter as well until it’s nice and smooth. Don’t overmix, though!

5. Bake! Line the bottom of your springform tin with baking paper and grease the sides of it. Transfer the batter to the tin and make sure it’s spread out evenly. Then, bake the cake in your preheated oven at 180 °C for at least 40 minutes (less than this if you’re using a bigger tin). Insert a skewer to check whether the cake is done. If it comes out clean, it’s done – if there’s batter stuck to the skewer, it needs an extra couple of minutes. Once it’s done, take the cake out of the oven and let it cool in the tin for 5 minutes.

6. Add drizzle I’d say now is the time to prepare the drizzle, but all you need is elderflower cordial. Once the cake has cooled for 5 minutes, get out a clean skewer and prick a bunch of holes all over the cake. Then, pour over your elderflower drizzle, making sure to divide it evenly over the cake. The last step is to sprinkle over one tablespoon of sugar, to add a nice, sweet crunch.

And that’s it! Just leave your cake to cool for a couple more minutes before removing it from the tin. It’s definitely delicious while it’s still warm, but it still tastes really good when it’s completely cooled down as well. Enjoy your lemon and elderflower drizzle cake!