When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry got married in May 2018, the combination of lemon and elderflower were all the rage. Yes, I also made a mini three-tiered elderflower lemon cake. Today, I decided to give this combo another chance. This year elderflowers are in full bloom at the moment, so you may even have the chance to make the cordial yourself. The new version of this royal combination contains moist lemon sponge cakes, lemon curd and a heavy cream and mascarpone filling infused with elderflower cordial. My cake only has one tier and I decided to decorate it with dried flowers and some fresh elderflowers. However, it is up to you how you want to decorate your cake.
Ok, so this elderflower and lemon wedding cake is completely spur-of-the moment and unlike me. I am usually not that girly type of girl, sorry, you know, like pink, sprinkles, princess, etc. But somehow when I watched Meghan and Harry getting married, I was touched. And I felt like making their weddding cake, a very small version of course. Especially since elderflowers are finally blossoming here in the north of Germany. We seem to always be lagging behind, whereas in London apparently they are in full blossom, they are only starting here. So I decided to make my own elderflower syrup and give this wedding cake a go.
Mind you, this is my very first three-tier cake and no, it is not the original recipe, I deviate in many aspects. It is simply a wedding cake inspired by Meghan’s and Harry’s wedding cake and since the top tier actually was baked in a muffin tin, you can probably imagine it to only feed about 12 people or so. The bottom cake is a 24cm (9inch) cake tin, the top is only a cupcake. A mini version, yet a celebration of these flavors nonetheless. Elderflower and lemon, sweet versus tart, white and yellow happily married in this symphony of spring.
This year for Easter I decided to prepare something dreamy and airy. What better option than to go with pavlova? I went for a pavlova with lemon curd and fresh fruits. Never heard of pavlova? According to my research this dish is seen as the national dish of either Australia or New Zealand, both countries are still fighting about that. In the 1920’s the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova visited both countries and this dish was invented in her honor. It contains a meringue base, which usually has the shape of a nest and is filled with whipped cream and fresh fruits.
I love lemon. I always have. I like the smell, the taste, the color. Probably one of the reasons why I chose a lemon tart as my first blog entry. The good thing is that my husband also loves lemon. He is the citric guy anyway. He also enjoys oranges, limes, and grapefruit. The whole package. Even more the reason to try a recipe with a citric fruit. Why not go with a lemon recipe? So here I was looking for something lemony and then I found a delicious lemon cupcake recipe on an Austrian blog. From Kevin who owns the site Law of Baking (German) and who posted this delicious recipe as a guest on the site Ginger in the Basement (in German).
Have you ever wondered what to do with leftover egg whites? Meringue is my new solution for leftover egg whites. Meringue is so versatile and it goes with almost everything because it has a rather subtle flavor. The best part of it is that you only need a litte sugar to create it.