This recipe first appeared in Food magazine issue 61.
Follow Food on Facebook, Instagram and sign up to their e-newsletter.
Ingredients
Method
1.Preheat the oven to 170ºC. Line the bases of two 20cm baking pans with baking paper and spray the sides with oil.
2.Place the butter, sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of an electric beater and beat for 4-5 minutes until the mixture is pale and thick. Add the eggs, one by one, beating well between each addition.
3.Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda into a separate bowl and add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk to the creamed mixture.
4.Pour the mixture evenly into the prepared pans, smoothing the tops. Bake the cakes in the preheated oven for 45-55 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle of each comes out clean.
5.Meanwhile, to make the lemon and gin syrup, place the sugar and lemon juice into a small pan. Bring slowly to the boil and continue to boil the liquid for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and add the gin.
6.As soon as the cakes are baked and removed from the oven, use a skewer to poke lots of holes in the tops. Spoon over the syrup. It may seem like a lot of liquid, but spoon it over slowly and it will be absorbed. Leave the cakes to cool in their pans.
7.To make the white chocolate buttercream, cream the butter with an electric beater until it is very pale, about 2-3 minutes. On a low speed, add the icing sugar alternately with the milk. Continue to beat the buttercream until it is light and fluffy. Finally, beat in the melted white chocolate. Use the buttercream as soon as possible as it will become firm.
8.To make the ganache, roughly chop the white chocolate and place in it a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a small pan until bubbles start to appear around the edges. Pour the cream over the chocolate and, using a whisk, stir the mixture gently until it is thoroughly combined. Set aside the ganache until it is a thick, but still pourable consistency.
9.To assemble the cake, place one of the cakes (trim the top if necessary) on a serving tray or cakestand. Cover it with a layer of the buttercream, then top the buttercream layer with the second cake, face down so the top is as flat as possible. Cover the whole cake with a layer of buttercream.
10.If you are using a final layer of ganache, wait until the buttercream has firmed. Pour the ganache onto the top of the cake and work quickly to spread it down the sides. Decorate the cake with edible flowers.
Note
- Wait until the icing has firmed completely before adding the ribbon. – You could pipe the whole top of the cake in buttercream swirls and sprinkle over silver balls, in which case you will need double the amount of buttercream.
Subscribe and save up to 38%
Get more food and recipe ideas delivered straight to your door
