Royal Wedding Cake Redux

It has been a while, well quite a long while since I’ve posted anything. I needed a break, I thought it might be a month or so but it turned into a much longer hiatus. I really have missed everyone and cooking has taken a back burner, no pun intended. I am not putting any pressure on myself but hope to be posting more regularly and getting back to cooking and following your blogs again.

Last year for the 4th of July I made a cake that was an homage to the royal wedding cake, it was wonderful. The cake recipe was from Food and Wine. I followed the directions on their website and it turned out beautifully. I posted the recipe and must have written it down incorrectly because when I attempted to make it again it was a miserable failure. Oddly, the recipe was taken off of their website and after an exhaustive search I found that it has disappeared. I decided to delete my post, wish I hadn’t done that though because I had the recipe for the lemon curd, soaking syrup and buttercream. I found the buttercream recipe on Stella Park’s website (Bravetart) and a good recipe for the lemon curd, luckily  I remembered the amounts I used for the syrup. For the cake I used my recipe for tender yellow cake which is always a good choice, its one of my favorites. The lemon curd is from Epicurious and is simple to make and the results were great. The combination of flavors in this cake are so delicious, the elderflower cordial syrup with the bright, tart lemon curd are a heavenly combination. Thank you all for your understanding, not unfollowing me and sticking with me despite my absence.

Elderflower Cordial Syrup

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup elderflower cordial (liquor)

1 cup sugar

Add all ingredients to heavy bottom pot and bring to a boil on high heat. Once boiling reduce heat to medium and continue to boil stirring occasionally if needed. Once slightly reduced and sugar is completely melted transfer to a jar and refrigerate until ready to use.

Lemon Curd

Recipe can be found on Epicurious

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

zest of 2 lemons

1/2 cup sugar

3 large eggs

3/4 stick (6 tbs) unsalted butter cut into tbs size pieces

Whisk together the lemon juice, zest, sugar and eggs in a 2 quart heavy saucepan. Stir in butter and cook over medium low heat whisking constantly until the curd is thick and holds a line on the back of a wooden spoon.

Transfer curd to a bowl, cover and chill completely before using.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Recipe by Stella Parks

6 ounces egg whites (approx 2/3 cup from 5-6 large eggs)

11 ounces sugar ( approx 1/2/3 cup)

3/4 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

20 ounces (5 sticks)unsalted butter softened to room temperature and cut into tbs size pieces

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbs elderflower liquor

Fill a wide pot or saucepan with about 1 1/2 inches of water and bring to a boil, once boiling reduce heat so that the water is simmering. Put the egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar and salt into the bowl of your stand mixer. Place the bowl over the simmering water (makeshift double boiler) NOTE: The bottom of the bowl should not be touching the water, Stella’s hack to prevent this is to crumple some aluminum foil place in the middle of the pot so that your mixing bowl sits on that and not the water. Stir and scrape constantly with a flexible spatula or whisk, all of the granulated sugar should dissolve and mixture should register a constant 185 degree’s. It will take 10-15 minutes. Once sugar is dissolved transfer bowl to stand mixer and using the whisk attachment, whip on high speed for about 10 minutes (check bottom of bowl it should no longer be hot and the egg whites will be glossy and stiff.

With mixer running add the butter 1 or 2 tbs at a time. The volume of the meringue may decrease but that’s ok keep whipping and don’t be alarmed if it looks soupy. Keep whipping, as you add the butter it will start to thicken. The frosting will be soft and billowy, now add the vanilla and elderflower liquor, whip until mixed. Use immediately but also note the buttercream can be stored in a zip lock bag in the refrigerator for later use but you will need to bring to room temperature before you frost the cake.

Assembling the cake

Note: I made two 8 inch round layers.

Slice off (if needed) a thin layer of the top of the cake so that its flat. Place bottom layer on cake stand (cut side up) and brush with the soaking syrup, don’t be shy give it a good soak. Spread a thin layer of the lemon curd, now some of the buttercream. Brush cut side of the top layer with the syrup and place on bottom layer (cut side down).  Frost cake as desired.