Viola Cake

Serves 12

3 medium-sized eggs 230g caster sugar 120g white plain flour 40g cornstarch 8.25g baking powder 100ml rapeseed oil 100ml crème de violette 6 sheets of gelatine 300ml buttermilk Juice of 1 lemon 400ml cream FROSTING 250ml soft butter 100g icing sugar

SWEETENED FLOWERS

1/2 teaspoon gum arabic Approx 300g caster sugar Approx 30 horned violet and pansy

flowers

Mix gum arabic with 20g sugar. Add 2 tablespoons of water and stir until smooth.

Spread about 200g sugar evenly on a tray. Dip the flowers into the sugar solution, carefully brush off the flowers with a brush and place them in the sugar bed. Sprinkle with about 100g sugar.

Dry the blossoms for at least 24 hours at room temperature of about 18°C.

Remove the blossoms from the sugar bed and place them between kitchen paper in an airtight tin. They keep for about 3-6 months.

Cover the bottom of an 18cm diameter springform pan with baking paper.

Tighten the edge of the springform pan around it. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan forced).

Put the eggs into a mixing bowl and beat them with a hand mixer for about 2 minutes until foamy. Add 90g sugar and beat for another 4 minutes.

Mix flour, cornstarch and baking powder in a bowl. Add rapeseed oil, crème de violette and the flour mixture to the egg foam and fold in briefly.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin and place it on the lower rack of the oven.

Bake at 180°C (160°C fan forced) for about 50 minutes.

“I MUST HAVE FLOWERS, ALWAYS, AND ALWAYS.”

CLAUDE MONET

Take the cake out of the oven and let it cool for at least 2 hours. Remove the cake from the tin and cut it horizontally three times. Place the bottom cake layer on a serving plate. Place a flexible cake ring around it.

For the lemon cream, soak the gelatine in cold water. Squeeze out the gelatine and dissolve it in a small pot at low heat.

Stir buttermilk, lemon juice and 140g sugar into the gelatine. Refrigerate the gelatine yoghurt for at least 10 minutes until it begins to gel.

Whip the cream until stiff and fold in with a rubber scraper. Layer the lemon cream on the bases in the cake ring. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Loosen the cake ring. Put the butter in a mixing bowl. Place the mixing bowl in hot water and let it melt slightly. Add icing sugar and beat for about 6 minutes until white and frothy. Spread the cake with it.

Before serving, cover the cake with flowers.