Blueberry, Lemon & Elderflower Layer Cake

Serves 10-12 Ingredients

375g unsalted butter, softened 375g caster sugar Zest of 2 lemons

2 tsp vanilla extract 6 medium eggs 375g gluten-free self-raising flour 1 tsp xanthan gum

2 tbsp elderflower cordial 100g (approx.) fresh blueberries

To finish

Zest of 1 lemon

1–2 tbsp elderflower cordial 6 tbsp lemon curd 100g (approx.) fresh blueberries

For the buttercream

500g unsalted butter 1½ tsp vanilla extract 700g icing sugar

To decorate

50g (approx.) fresh blueberries A few drops of lemon curd Lemon zest

Method

Preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Weigh the butter and caster sugar into a big mixing bowl or stand mixer and add the lemon zest and vanilla extract. Crack the eggs into a jug and weigh the flour into another bowl. Beat the butter, sugar, zest and vanilla together using your spatula (or a mixer on low) until it looks lighter in colour and less dense and craggy. It won’t go really fluffy, but you will see a difference after a few minutes of mixing. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl to make sure you’ve got everything mixed in. Pour an egg in and add a couple of spoons of flour, then beat until combined. Repeat with each egg, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl between each addition. Gently mix in the remaining flour and the xanthan gum until it’s all incorporated, then finally mix in the cordial. Divide the batter between the three tins and smooth the mixture out using a palette knife or the back of a spoon. Dot blueberries over the tops of each cake. Place two tins on the middle shelf and one on the top shelf (if you have a big oven, put all the tins on the middle shelf so they bake evenly). Keep an eye on the one on the top shelf as it may bake quicker. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, testing with a skewer after 25 minutes. If the skewer comes out clean, the cakes are ready. If not, pop them back in for another five minutes and test again. Leave the cakes to cool in their tins for half an hour before carefully running a palette knife round their outside edge and taking them out of the tin. Leave to cool completely on a cooling rack while you get on with making the buttercream.

Flavour it with the lemon zest and a tablespoon of elderflower cordial, then taste and add more if you fancy.

Now you can assemble and ice the cake following the guide on page 194. It’s a naked cake so you just need to fill each layer with buttercream and three tablespoons of lemon curd and about 50g fresh blueberries, then pipe a layer of buttercream on the top. Decorate with more fresh blueberries, dots of lemon curd and a scattering of lemon zest.

If you don’t want a gluten-free cake, just use regular self-raising flour and leave out the xanthan gum.