Wedding DIY – make your own Lemon and Elderflower Wedding Cake
I paid no attention to the royal wedding earlier this year, I have to admit… but since the big day it’s come to my attention that Harry and Meghan’s cake was different, modern, creative and absolutely delicious-sounding… Lemon & Elderflower. And credit where it’s due – I love that their wedding cake was non-traditional (ie not a fruit cake!) If this sounds good and you’d like to follow in the royal couple’s footsteps with a lemon & elderflower infused wedding cake, you’ll love this recipe sent in by the lovely folks at Dr. Oetker and celebrity baker Juliet Sear!
All images from Dr. Oetker
Equipment
6”, 8”, 10” round cake tins (you will need to bake 3 layers for each tier, so if you have multiple cake tins this will help you bake your cakes in batches)
Greaseproof paper (base and side line all tins)
Fresh flowers of choice for decoration
Cake Boards – 6”, 8”, 10” thin cake boards and either a 12-14” cake stand to display the cake on
Cake dowel – ideally 8-10 and a knife or scissors
Small crank handle palette knife, medium flat palette knife
Ingredients:
Total Cake Batter for all three tiers needed:
1125g Self-raising flour
10 tsps Dr. Oetker Baking Powder
1125g Softened unsalted butter
1125g Golden unrefined caster sugar
10 Sachets of Dr. Oetker Ready Lemon Zest
23 Medium Free Range Eggs
For the drizzle:
Juice of 5 lemons, strained
500ml water
10 tbsp elderflower cordial
500g Golden unrefined caster sugar
For the Buttercream and filling for sandwiching and rough icing all three tiers:
2kg Unrefined icing sugar
1.6kg Soft unsalted butter
120ml Elderflower cordial
3 Sachets of Dr.Oetker Ready Lemon Zest
An additional 2 jars of good quality lemon curd
Flowers to decorate if desired
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to gas 4, 180°C, 160°C fan, grease and line cake tins.
2. Mix the flour and Baking Powder into a large bowl.
3. Cream together the butter, sugar, cordial and Ready Lemon Zest until light and fluffy, then gradually add in the eggs until incorporated.
4. Gently mix in the flour and Baking Powder until just lightly mixed.
5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tins, following the quantities below. 3 x 6” cake – weigh 250g batter into each cake tin – 750g batter total
3 x 8” cake – weigh 500g batter into each cake tin – 1500g batter total
3 x 10” cake – weigh 750g batter into each cake tin – 2250g batter total
6. Bake until cooked or when a skewer inserted into the sponge comes out clean, note baking times will vary for each tin, 6” check after 20 mins, 8” check after 25 mins and the 10” check after 40 mins (ovens can vary). Once baked place the cake onto a wire rack to cool.
7. While the cakes are baking, make the drizzle by placing the lemon juice, water, elderflower cordial and sugar in a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved completely.
8. Whilst the cakes are warm, spear the cake sponges with a skewer to make multiple holes and drizzle the elderflower syrup, use a pastry brush to ensure all cake is covered in syrup.
9. Make the buttercream by beating the icing sugar, butter, and cordial together until very pale, fluffy and creamy (buttercream may have to be made in batches).
10. Spread a small amount of buttercream onto the cake board and place a layer of cake on top the same size as the board. Layer the sponge by spreading over some buttercream and then adding some lashings of lemon curd. Sandwich together with 3 layers of sponge and chill for 20-30 minutes. Repeat this step for each cake tier.
11. To create the rough iced look, crumb coat each tier and chill for 30 mins to an hour to seal and set.
12. Using a palette knife, gently carve swirls and strokes on the side of the cake. Then, top with edible flowers if you wish or simply with additional Lemon Zest.
13. To assemble the cake, insert a cake dowel into the centre of the 10” cake taking care the dowel goes straight through the cake to the board. Use a knife to mark where the dowel meets the top of the cake and pull the dowel back out of the cake. Cut the dowel to the correct size and use as a guide to cut 5 more dowels the same size. Insert one dowel back into the centre of the cake and insert the other 5 dowels evenly spaced about 3” from the centre. This will now support the second cake tier. Repeat placing the dowels into the cake for the 8” tier, but only use 4 dowels and place the dowels closer together to ensure the dowels support the top 6” cake tier. Once at your wedding venue, stack the cakes centrally and if needed, add additional buttercream if there are any gaps. Dress as you wish with fresh flowers.
Juliet baked a tier of this cake with Holly and Phil on This Morning just before the royal wedding – watch the video here!
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