Elderflower Lemon Loaf Cake

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Royal Wedding has brought the Elderflower Lemon Cake craze out of everyone's recipe box and into their social media posts. I myself will be making an Elderflower Lemon Loaf Cake for my Royal Wedding viewing party (population 1).

This is a recipe adapted from The Kitchn but instead of whipped cream, our Elderflower Lemon Loaf Cake will have a lemon sugar glaze. Elderflower Cordial are available year round in most British import stores. My favorite is from Belvoir Fruit Farms. Juice your lemons after you have zested them and save the juice for the syrup and glaze.

NOTE: You can follow the directions to make a Vegan Victoria Sponge using this recipe, and soak the cake with the elderflower and lemon syrup. If your cake got too dry, you can make additional syrup to drizzle on your cake.

For the cake:
8 ounces unsalted butter (room temperature)
8 ounces sugar
4 large eggs
Zests from 3 lemons (chop zests finely)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the syrup:
1/4 cup elderflower cordial
2 tablespoon lemon juice (juice from lemons you have zested)

For the lemon sugar glaze:

1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

4 tablespoon lemon juice (juice from lemons you have zested)

For decorations (optional):
Gum paste flowers
Lemon zest

Preheat oven at 325°F. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper. Set aside.
Combine elderflower cordial and lemon juice. Set aside the syrup for later.

Cream butter and sugar on medium speed in an electric mixer until they are light yellow and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Add in the lemon zest and mix well.

Beat eggs in a bowl and gradually add a small amount of the eggs into the butter and sugar mixture. Beat the mixture thoroughly every time you have added the egg into the mixture.

Mix flour, salt, and baking powder. Sift a quarter of the flour mixture into the butter mixture and fold gently with spatula. Repeat until all the flour is incorporated into the mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake in the oven for about 60 to 70 minutes (when the toothpick or knife comes out clean when poked). Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, poke holes all over the cake with a skewer. Drizzle the elderflower and lemon syrup over the cake so that it seeps into the holes. Cool cake completely and then remove from the pan.

Mix confectioner's sugar and lemon juice to form glaze. Add more or less lemon juice until desired consistency is achieved. Pour glaze on top of cooled cake. Decorate with gum paste flowers and lemon zest. Slice and serve.