Heat the oven to 180ºc/160ºfan and line three 20cm/8inch cake tins with baking parchment – leave to the side.
In a stand mixer, beat together the unsalted butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy.
Add in the flour, eggs, baking powder and beat again briefly until combined – try not to overbeat!
Add in the elderflower cordial and lemon zest, and mix in.
Divide the mixture between the three tins and smooth it over – bake for 25-30minutes until the cakes are golden and when the cake springs back (skewer should also come out clean)
For the Drizzle!
Whisk together the sugar and elderflower cordial.
Once the cakes are baked, drizzle over the cordial mix, and leave the cake to cool in the tin.
For the Buttercream!
In a stand mixer, beat the butter with an electric mixer until it is smooth and loose and then beat in the icing sugar 1/3 at a time until its fully combined. Keep beating the buttercream for 5-6 minutes on a medium speed so it starts to get fluffier and lighter.
Add in the elderflower cordial and beat again for 3-4 minutes. If its too stiff, add a bit more cordial in, but you want it to be relatively stiff to not slip off the cake!
For the Decoration!
Once the cakes are cooled, put the first layer on the serving plate spread some of the buttercream onto the top of the first layer, spread over a little lemon curd, add the second cake on top, and then top again with some of buttercream, lemon curd or blackberry jam, and then add the final sponge layer.
Only use about 2 tbsp of buttercream per layer so that you have enough to decorate with!
With the leftover buttercream, as you can see, I covered the sides (and top) too! Do a first layer of around the edge and top using a large metal scraper and refriergate for 10 minutes. Repeat again with a slightly thicker layer of buttercream.
I slather it on all over using an off-set spatula, and then run the metal scraper round till its smooth. The more you put on, the thicker it’ll be as because you are making it smooth, more comes off than you realise with smoothing it over.
Melt the white chocolate carefully with the double cream to make a ganache. Using a disposable piping bags, pipe it round the edge of the cake, edging over slight bits to create the drip. You don’t need to use too much per drip as it’ll drop quite far down by itself!
Leave the chocolate to set a bit, and pipe on any extra buttercream, add some lemon slices, and some blackberries if you wish!
Notes
I seriously recommend using a metal scraper for the decoration of the buttercream, and the disposable piping bags for the drip... I wouldn't be anywhere without them!
All of the decorations are completely optional – but I love this style of cake! To make a smaller version of the cake, use 300g of everything in the cake, 6 medium eggs, 1 tsp of baking powder, 75ml cordial, and it might take an extra 5-10 minutes to bake and use 2/3 of the decoration recipes!
This cake will last in an airtight container for 3 days!
I used white chocolate for the drip, but you can use whatever you like! Or leave it off!
I used lemon slices and blackberries out of personal preference, but feel free to decorate how you please!