Bramley Apple Cake with Lemon Curd and Elderflower Drizzle Icing

Serves	8 to 10 slices
Prep time	30 minutes
Cook time	25 minutes
Total time	55 minutes
Allergy	Egg, Wheat
Dietary	Vegetarian
Meal type	Dessert, Snack
Misc	Pre-preparable, Serve Cold
Occasion	Birthday Party, Casual Party, Easter, Formal Party, Valentines day
Region	British
By author	Karen S Burns-Booth

A beautiful spring showstopper gateau type cake that uses seasonal elderflowers with tart Bramley apples and lemon curd; the base cake mixture is a Victoria Sandwich, a British classic that works well with all of the other British ingredients and preserves.

Ingredients

Cake

4 large eggs, weighed in their shells
butter or soft margarine ~ same weight as the eggs
caster sugar/super fine sugar ~ same weight as the eggs
self-rising flour~ same weight as the eggs

Filling

1 x 250g jar Lemon curd
4 to 5 Bramley apples (peeled, cored and sliced)
50g caster sugar
1 tablespoon elderflower cordial

Drizzle Icing

150g icing sugar
5 to 7 tablespoons elderflower cordial

Decoration

8 edible wafer daisies (or edible flowers of your choice)

Note

A beautiful spring show-stopper gateau-type cake that uses seasonal elderflower cordial with tart Bramley apples and lemon curd; the base cake mixture is a Victoria Sandwich, a British classic that works well with all of the other British ingredients and preserves.

Directions

Step 1	NB: The measurements for this recipe are equal amounts of sugar, flour and fat to the weight of the eggs; therefore, weigh the eggs first – if the eggs weigh 8 ounces (225g), you will use 8 ounces (225g) of sugar, 8 ounces (225g) of butter or margarine and 8 ounces (225g) of flour. If the eggs weigh 6 ounces (170g), all the other ingredients will be 6 ounces (170g) – easy!
Step 2	Cake: Pre-heat oven to Gas 4, 160C (fan oven), 180C or 350F: grease and base line the bottom of 2 x 8” (20cm) sandwich tins – cake tins.
Step 3	Cream margarine or butter together with the sugar, until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs and then add them to the mixture, gradually and beating well after each addition. Sieve the flour and fold into the mixture with a metal spoon.
Step 4	Divide equally between the 2 prepared tins and bake for 25 minutes in the middle of the oven. Remove and allow to cool for 1-2 minutes.
Step 5	Apple filling: Add the apples, sugar and elderflower cordial to a saucepan and simmer gently until the apples are soft and pulpy. Set to one side to cool and thicken. This can be done before baking the cake and they can be kept in the fridge until needed.
Step 6	Assembling the cake: Remove from the tins and allow to cool completely on a wire rack; when cool, carefully slice through each cake with a bread knife to give you 4 x cakes.
Step 7	Place the first cake layer on a cake stand and spoon lemon curd over the cake before adding some of the stewed Bramley apples; continue to layer the cake this way with the remaining lemon curd and stewed Bramley apples leaving the top cake free of lemon curd and apples.
Step 8	Drizzle Icing: Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl and add the elderflower cordial gradually until you have a thick paste - spoon this over the top of the cake and allow it to drizzle down the sides of the cake.
Step 9	Decorate with the edible wafer daisies or edible flowers of your choice.