This cake was inspired by the beautiful wild primroses growing in Kent this Spring. If you are using foraged flowers to top a cake, I recommend picking the flowers at the last minute as they will wilt quickly. The rich yellow colour of the primroses just made me think of lemons and so I created this recipe!
Recipe
Ingredients
150g caster sugar
150g self raising flour
150g butter, softened
2 medium eggs
4 unwaxed lemons
10 wild primrose flowers
Small cake tin - 18cm
For the buttercream icing:
50g butter, softened
60g icing sugar
1/2 - 1 lemon juice
For the lemon drizzle syrup:
Juice of 1 lemon
50g icing sugar
Method
1. Weigh out the sugar and butter. To soften the butter, run it for a minimum of 40 seconds on the defrost setting of your microwave.
2. Whisk the sugar and butter until fluffy and light in colour. Approximately 2 mins on high speed.
3. Preheat the oven at 160C fan.
4. Add in the eggs and whisk one by one until well combined.
5. Sift and fold in the flour gently with a spatula.
6. Add the zest of 2 lemons and the juice of 1 lemon. Test to see if the mixture taste lemony enough - if not, add some more lemon juice.
7. Prepare your cake tin by brushing with butter & dusting with flour. Put the batter into the mould and gently smooth over the top so it's even.
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes approx until it is golden on the top and set in the inside. Use a sharp knife and check if it comes out clean - that means the cake is cooked.
Butter Cream
1. Prepare the buttercream. Whisk icing sugar & softened butter on high until light and fluffy. The mixture should about double in size.
2. Add the lemon juice - 1/2 lemon to a whole lemon, just taste as you go to check it is lemony enough. Put to one side.
Lemon Drizzle Syrup
1. Combine the juice of 1 lemon & the icing sugar in a small pan and bring to the boil. Once it's heated up, bring the syrup down to a simmer and cook for 5 - 10 mins until it becomes thicker like a syrup. Set aside to pour over the cake once it's baked.
Back to the cake
9. Take the cake out and let it cool on the side. Make lots of small holes on the top of the cake for the syrup to run into. Pour the syrup over the cake. Once cooler, take the cake out of the tin and place it on a rack to finish cooling.
10. Once completely cool, ice the top of the cake with the lemon buttercream icing. Spread it evenly over the surface of the cake using a knife.
11. Top the cake with wild edible primrose flowers. Other edible flowers include, violets, dandelions & magnolia. If you are foraging, please ensure you have correctly identified the plant and flower and you are 100% of what you are eating before putting anything wild in your mouth!
