Rhubarb and Elderflower Cake

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source: Personal recipe (see below)

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This recipe has undergone a few modifications over the years, but I think I'm finally satisfied with it. Rhubarb and elderflower are a fantastic combination, and the cake is very light and summery. Even so, I can't resist having it year round so I also keep some poached rhubarb from spring and frozen elderflower cordial so I can make it whenever I want.

You can decorate it in lots of ways. My favourite is to shred the poached rhubarb and have it going all through the cream then cover the whole cake in cream and put more rhubarb on top (see above). You can also do a cleaner, semi-nude version (below), and if it is spring and you have elderflower growing nearby then you can make a fancy version with elderflower flowers (bottom). However you decorate it, it will taste fantastic!

Recipe

Ingredients

For the cakes:

• 4 large eggs
• 200g caster sugar
• 50g plain flour
• 80g potato flour or cornflour
• 2 tsp baking powder

For the filling:

• 600g or 1 jar poached rhubarb, see here
• 300ml heavy cream
• 2 Tbsp greek yoghurt
• 3 Tbsp elderflower cordial, storebought or see here
• + more elderflower cordial for brushing the cakes

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180.
2. Line two 20cm round cake tins with baking paper, and grease the sides with butter.
3. Mix together flour, cornflour, and baking powder in a bowl and set aside.
4. In a separate large bowl, beat eggs and sugar together until pale and super fluffy (see here).
5. Gently fold the flour into the egg mixture using a rubber spatula.
6. Divide the mixture between the two cake tins then bake on a lower rung in the oven for 25m or until they're coming away from the sides of the pan, and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
7. When the cakes are done, leave it for two or three minutes then flip them onto a wire rack and leave them to cool completely out of their tins.
8. For the filling, whip the cream into soft peaks, then fold in the yoghurt and elderflower cordial. Add more cordial and/or yoghurt to taste. You can use the yoghurt to thicken it, but also you can whip the cream a little more if you need to to thicken it again if you add lots of cordial. It needs to be a good consistency for spreading on the cake.
9. Reserve a few attractive pieces of your poached rhubarb for decorating the top of the cake. Then, shred up the remainder of the rhubarb and fold through the cream (see the picture).
10. Put the biggest sponge flat side (i.e. the bottom side) facing up on the base of your cake stand. Use a pastry brush to brush it all over with elderflower cordial. Then spread with cream.
11. Brush elderflower cordial over the flat (bottom) side of the other cake too, then put it on top of the cream.
12. Cover the whole cake with remaining cream and smooth it off. You don't have to do a very good job.
13. It's nice if you let it sit a few hours to soak up the elderflower cordial (so make ahead if possible), but it will be delicious whenever you eat it.