Elderflower drizzle cake

Serves 6 A springy, bubbly sponge that laps up the elderflower syrup beautifully. Serve as a pudding with lightly whipped cream.

For the cake

— 115g butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing the tin — 55g dark, soft brown sugar — 6 eggs, separated, the yolks lightly beaten — 120g runny honey — 30ml elderflower cordial — 125g self-raising flour — pinch of allspice — pinch of ground cinnamon — 200g ground almonds

For the syrup

— 150g granulated sugar — 4 elderflower heads — juice of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 170C/ gas mark 3½. Prepare a 20cm loaf tin, either buttering and dusting with flour or lining the base with baking parchment.

Put the syrup ingredients in a pan with 200ml water and slowly bring to the boil, then remove from the heat. Leave to dissolve the sugar and steep – for about one hour.

For the cake, put the butter and sugar together in a bowl and beat until pale and creamy. Gradually beat in the egg yolks, adding little by little (this helps stop the cake curdling), then add the honey and elderflower cordial. Sift the flour, spices and a pinch of salt together and fold this into the mixture with the almonds.

Finally, whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold them gently into the mixture.

Transfer to the tin and bake for about one hour. The cake is cooked when an inserted skewer comes out clean.

When the cake has cooled, and while still in the tin, pierce holes in it with a skewer and pour over the syrup through a sieve. Leave to sit for a while before serving.