Hello lovelies, this week has been mainly about elderflowers since we finally have them in bloom in the North!
Best to be picked on a bright sunny morning. There are Elderflower trees everywhere which makes picking them very easy, I picked a bag full on the way back from school. I also made some cordial from a River Cottage recipe without the citric acid and with 800g sugar, 1 lemon and about 3 pints of water. (So not really their recipe at all! )
You will need to pick the flowers one day proir to baking as they need a night in the fridge. I picked 20 heads which gave me 300g of flowers, so for this recipe you probably need 12 ish.
Anyhow the cake came out very well, not too sweet with a delicious sweet, tangy, crystalised lime topping and wafting the scent of elderflowers everywhere!
For the cake:
200g sugar 16p
170g butter 68p
zest of 1 lime 33p
2 free range eggs 34p
150 ml milk 15p
200g plain flour 15p
2 tsp baking powder 10p
100g poppy seeds 85p
150g elderflowers FREE
For the topping:
juice of 1 lime ~ from the lime you've already zested
40g sugar 3p
a handful of elderflowers FREE
1 tsp of icing sugar 3p
Total: £2.82
Leave the heads of flowers in the fridge overnight and then the flowers can be gently taken off ~ trouble free.
Gather your ingredients and zest the lime. Turn on the oven gas 4 / 180c. Grease and flour an 8" loose base cake tin.
Cream the butter and the sugar, then mix in the lime, flour and baking powder.
Beat the eggs and milk together and add to the mix.
Then gently add in the flowers and poppy seeds.
Spoon the mix into the tin and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes.
For the topping: Put the sugar and lime in a pan and bring to a boil. Stir for 5 minutes or so until it becomes syrupy. Turn off the heat and add the flowers, then spoon evenly over the cake.
Sprinkle with icing sugar and leave to cool.
Or if you just can't wait ~ eat warm with a nice cup of whatever you fancy ~ tea ~ coffee ~ or ~ gin.
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