Raspberry, Poppy Seed and Elderflower Cake

Happy Bank Holiday for all you UK readers! I wasn't planning on making this recipe for a post. It was a cake I created for a friend of a friend's birthday this weekend, but I thought you know what...this cake looks so beautiful (as you can probably tell, I'm very pleased with it!!) so I'll share the recipe anyway - even though I can't cut into it myself and show you the finished inside. 

I wish I could've cut into it as the flavour combination of this cake is literally me on my plate. I just love elderflower and you may remember that I had a cake this flavour for MY birthday! Elderflower reminds me of the summer and it's delicate floral flavour goes hand in hand with something that packs even more of a punch, so perfect with these jewel-like raspberries, glistening with glaze. 

I couldn't help but flourish the cake with a thyme wreath! The greenery really complements the rosy red of the raspberries and also adding a slight aromatic fragrance which matched well with the elderflower. I suppose it couldn't be more English garden/countryside themed if I tried. If you do have some thyme or even rosemary growing on your windowsill or patio I do recommend using it, (even though it's only for aesthetic purposes!!)

I'm keeping it short and simple this week (well, I call this short in comparison to my usual posts) I'm basically revising non-stop at the minute for my english language exam, but I'm on the home stretch now so not long to go. Yaay! In the meantime have a good old nosy at yet another step by step gif below... I just can't get enough of them. You could say I'm obsessed but I don't care! 

Raspberry,  Poppy  Seed  and  Elderflower  Cake

Ingredients:

Cake: 265g softened butter 170g caster sugar 4 eggs 4 tbsp elderflower cordial 300g plain flour 2 ¾ tsp baking powder 50g poppy seeds
Buttercream: 650g icing sugar 145g softened butter 2 tbsp milk 50ml elderflower cordial
To fill: 4-5 tbsp raspberry jam
To decorate: 2 large punnets of fresh raspberries 2 tbsp raspberry jam

Method

Preheat the oven to 175°C/ 350°F/ gas 4. Grease and line 2 x 8 inch (20cm) cake tins. 
In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Add the eggs one by one, if it looks like it might split then add a couple of tablespoons of flour. Add the elderflower cordial and beat again until smooth. 
In another bowl stir together the flour, baking powder and seeds. Add this dry mix to the creamed butter mixture. Stir well to combine. 
Divide the batter between the two prepared cake tins. Level with a palette knife and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. 
Leave the cakes to cool in the tins for about 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack. Leave to cool completely. Meanwhile to make the buttercream, beat together half of the icing sugar with the butter, milk and elderflower cordial in an electric mixer. Once smooth add the rest of the icing sugar and beat again for several minutes until creamy. 
Once the cakes are cool slice each in half to make 4 layers in total. 
To assemble the cake, sandwich each layer with a generous spoonful of buttercream making sure to spread it out evenly, and top 1-2 tbsps of the jam - beaten first in a small bowl to make more spreadable. Completely cover the sides and top with the remaining buttercream and decorate the top with raspberries. 
To make the glaze, put 2 tbsp of jam in a small saucepan along with 1 tbsp of water and mix. Heat on a low heat until simmering. Immediately push through a sieve to remove any seeds and then brush it all over the raspberries whilst hot. Leave to set for at least 20 minutes before serving. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge.