Summer Fete Wedding Cake Recipe

This pretty summer bake is the perfect thing for a big celebration. If you're looking to make your own wedding cake then this beauty can be made a couple of days beforehand, to save you any last-minute stress.

Ingredients

To make a 15cmx6inch cake:

• 100 g/6½ tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 150 g/¾ cup caster sugar
• 150g/1¼ cups self-raising flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 large eggs
• 80 ml/¼ cup whole milk
• finely grated zest of 2 lemons
• 45 g/3 tablespoons lemon curd, warmed

For the lemon drizzle:

• freshly squeezed juice of 2 lemons
• 100 g/½ cup caster sugar

For the decoration:

• marzipan
• white sugar paste
• a cake drum 8 cm/3 inches larger than the base tier
• 1.5-cm/½-inch wide white satin ribbon
• a black edible ink pen
• approx. 100 g/3½ oz. white floristry paste cornflour, for dusting
• approx. 50 g/3 tablespoons cocoa butter powder
• edible lustre dusts
• ½ quantity Royal Icing

You will also need:

• a 15-cm/6-inch deep round cake pan, greased and lined
• a thin round cake board the same size as the cake
• a scribe tool
• a wheel tool
• a paint palette or plate
• a few clean paintbrushes
• a piping bag fitted with a small round nozzle/tip

Method

1. To make the lemon drizzle cake, following the method below, prepare all 3 tiers of your cake: Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan)/350°F (325°F fan)/Gas 4 In a large mixing bowl and using an electric whisk, beat together all the cake ingredients except the lemon zest and curd, until pale and fluffy, then fold through the lemon zest Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake in the preheated oven for 30–35 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean While the cake is baking, make the lemon ‘drizzle’. In a jug/pitcher, stir together the lemon juice and sugar, then leave to stand Once baked, place the warm cake, still in its pan, on a wire rack and stab it all over with a skewer. Give the lemon drizzle a quick stir, before pouring it over the top of the hot cake. (For larger cakes, drizzle over the syrup in 2 stages, allowing the first half to soak in before drizzling over the remaining syrup. This will prevent syrup-sodden sides and a dry middle.) Leave the cake to cool completely in its pan before turning out and levelling, if necessary
2. When you are ready to decorate the cake, brush a little of the warmed lemon curd onto the cake board and set the cake onto it. Brush lemon curd all over the rest of the cake, then decorate To decorate, cover your 3 cake tiers with marzipan followed by sugar paste, then cover your cake drum in the same white sugar paste Rod and stack the cake, then ribbon the cake and the cake drum Using a scribe tool, carefully mark out evenly spaced swags around all 3 tiers of the cake. When you are satisfied they are even, draw swags directly onto the cake using the edible ink pen. Draw a little bow at the meeting point of each swag Knead the floristry paste, then roll it out on a cornflour/cornstarch-dusted surface, until very thin. Use a wheel tool to cut the paste into 2.5-cm/1-inch wide strips, then use diagonal cuts to form triangles for the bunting flags. Measure how many flags fill each swag and multiply that by the number of swags, and include a few spares for your patch kit. Leave them to dry overnight Melt the cocoa butter powder in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Tip a little of each coloured dust into the palette and mix in a little melted cocoa butter to make a selection of coloured paints. Paint the bunting flags with a solid colour or personalise them with your own designs. Once painted, leave the flags to dry Spoon the royal icing into the piping bag and pipe a swirl onto the back of each flag, pressing them gently into place on the cake as you go.