Elderflower cake

I love the scent and taste of Elderflower and it's a sure sign that 

Summer is potentially on its way.  I made this cake for the Knitting and Crochet Club this weekend, I combined various recipes to produce the end result, the cake was from a 'Gaurdian' supplement while the buttercream was from a 'Primrose Bakery' book.  I didnt do the Gaurdian buttercream as its involved caramelising sugar and I'm always a bit nervous of it so I opted for the Primrose buttercream putting it inside the cake and on the top with the star nozzle.  I trimmed it up with edible decorative daisies and elderflowers and it looked really pretty.

Elderflowers should be out where you are as they have just come out in our village with the sunshine, we are pretty high up here and generally late with flowers and buds in comparison with other gardens 'down the valley'.

So, here comes Summer!

Elderflower Cake

6 eggs
170gms Caster Sugar
1tspn Vanilla Extract
170gms Plain Flour - sifted twice
75gms Unsalted Butter 
Fresh Elderflower 1 large head, flowers removed from stalks


for the buttercream

170gms unsalted butter at room temp
435gms icing sugar
75ml elderflower cordial
elderflowers to decorate

Heat oven to 180c - 150 for fan oven
Grease 2 deep 20cm cake tins and line the bases with a circle of baking parchment.
Melt the butter gently and leave to cool.
Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl and add the sugar.  Whisk with an electric mixer - or a balloon whisk with plenty of elbow grease - until the mixture is pale and mousse like,it should be thick enough to leave a ribbon trail on the surface when the whisk is lifted.  Add the vanilla and then carefully fold in half of the flour with a large metal spoon.  Pour the cooled butter over the surface and fold it in followed by the remaining flour and elderflowers.  Do this quickly and lightly as possible to not lose too much air.
Divide the mixture between prepped tins and bake for 20 - 25mins till golden and shrinking from the side of the tins. Leave in the tins for 5 mins and then turn out on to a wire rack to cool.
To make the buttercream place the butter in a bowl and sift the icing sugar over it.  Pour in the elderflower cordial and beat well with an electric hand beater until combined - the longer it is beaten the lighter it will become and fluffier.
To assemble the cake, put one layer on a serving plate and ice with half of the buttercream.  Place the other layer on top and ice the top of the cake - I chose to use a large star nozzle and produce star clusters, then topped with edible daisies and fresh elderflowers.
Think of Summer and enjoy! 

Tea Cosy and Liberty workshop

It's quite a while since I posted on the blog but its been a very hectic time, mostly with energy spent on education as its been GCSE deadlines.  Most of these photos were taken last month on workshops and since then all I've dealt with has been education, education and education......

So, looking back, the first workshop was at John Lewis Sheffield,the workshop was 'Flower Basket Tea Cosy'  and the ladies had the opportunity to knit the cosy first and then go on to make the flowers and leaves on the day.  It's a fab workshop suitable for knitters with experience but wanting to develop their knitting skills, so they are learning how to shape knitted fabric to create the various flowers: daffodil, rose and daisies.  Most flowers were made on the day but the ladies left the workshop with enough knowledge to create more flowers at home.
If you would like to create your own cosy then you can get the pattern here on Ravelry.
  

Then just a few days later I was off to London and the very fine location of 'Liberty'.  Liberty never fails to fascinate and is one of my favourite places, I remember as a student going to this store and being inspired by its surroundings and I have to admit that it has not lost its magic.  This was the 'Project Bag' workshop which was for the experienced sewer as it involved producing a bag that had 9 outside pockets - for all those crafty bits and pieces. 

Working in the 'Heritage Suite' at Liberty, lots of thinking and planning going on in this photograph. 

My original bag was made using a Stag designed fabric by Joel Dewberry and we managed to use this in 2 colourways for this workshop.  The front of the bag is coming together in the photograph.

I chose this Tula Pink fabric to produce my sample in the workshop and chose to focus on 'Elizabeth's' head as the main feature.

               

After the workshop 2 ladies very kindly sent me photographs of their completed bags and said how much they had enjoyed the workshop: always nice to hear.

While I was in Liberty I got the opportunity to see the new department and some of their lovely displays of Rowan products.  The new location is at the front of the store, it has lots of windows and is really well lit. I really liked this colourful display (above)

Some Rowan fabric and knitted products.

                      

In the store hanging over the bannisters was a beautiful array of Kaffe Fasset's Quilts...

                     

The setting really complemented the designs

So, now education is a bit quieter I'm looking forward to doing more crafting, have a lovely week...