27-05-2025
Floral fancies
The prettiest of cakes for a spring or summer tea. There are places to buy both fresh and dried edible flowers online.
Try for fresh ones and for dried pressed flowers, and crystallised ones as well.
Overview
Prep time
35 mins
Cook time
10 mins
Serves
16
Ingredients
For the sponge
3 large eggs
75g caster sugar
50g plain flour
butter, for greasing
For the filling
100g butter, at room temperature
175g icing sugar, sifted, plus extra for dusting
3 tbsp full-fat milk
For the glacé icing
185g icing sugar
lemon juice, as needed
edible flowers, to decorate
food colouring of your choice (optional)
Method
Step
Butter a 32 x 23cm Swiss roll tin, line it with baking parchment and butter the parchment too. Heat the oven to 190C/180C fan/ gas mark 5.
Step
Beat the eggs with the sugar for 10 minutes, until the mixture is pale, thick and increased in volume. Sift in the flour in 2 batches, using a large metal spoon to fold it in completely after each addition. Try not to knock the air out. Pour the mixture into the Swiss roll tin and smooth the top with the back of a spoon or a palette knife.
Step
Give the tin a little tap on the kitchen surface to knock out any small bubbles. Bake the sponge for 8-10 minutes. It should be golden and coming away from the sides of the tin. Leave to cool in the tin and cover with cling film.
Step
To make the buttercream filling, beat the butter until it's pale and smooth. Add the icing sugar a little at a time. If you add it all at once the sugar billows. The mixture should become smooth – you also need it to be light, so add the milk a bit at a time. It should be spreadable.
Step
Lay a piece of baking parchment – larger than the sponge – on the counter. Sift a light dusting of icing sugar on top. Remove the cling film from the Swiss roll tin and invert the sponge on to the parchment.
Step
Remove the parchment on top of the sponge. Halve it widthways. Spread the filling on one of the sponge halves, working right to the edges. Put the other half on top. Slide the parchment on to a baking sheet, cover the top with cling film, and put it in the fridge for 2 hours.
Step
Make the glacé icing by sifting the icing sugar and adding 1 tbsp of water. Stir this together and add lemon juice a little at a time until you have the right consistency. It has to be thick enough to pour on the squares and run down the sides. You can make different colours by dividing the icing into 2 or 3 different bowls. Put a tiny dot of whatever colours you want on the end of a cocktail stick then mix it in. I do really mean a tiny dot as you want the colours to be pale.
Step
Use a serrated knife to cut the sponge into 16 squares. Put these on a wire cooling rack set over a baking sheet so the icing can drip off there. Ice the squares, letting it run down the sides.
