Saint Clement’s Cake

One of my favourite cakes, it's full of bright citrus with a sweet and sour icing - perfect for picnics, birthdays, and even breakfast. Your kitchen will be filled with the fragrance of oranges and lemons which is as much of an incentive to make it as eating it is. Decorated here with edible flowers, you can use nasturtiums, rose petals or elderflower which all pair nicely with this sponge. 

Cake Ingredients

- 150g of salted butter

- 150g of caster sugar

- 3 eggs

- 100ml of buttermilk

- 2 lemons

- 2 oranges

-150g of flour

- 1 tsp of baking powder

Icing Ingredients 

- 250g of icing sugar

- juice of one lemon

Method

Line the bottom of a 20cm cake tin in baking paper and butter and flour the edges. In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add each egg to this bowl one at a time and blend as you add each one. Beat this mix together until fluffy. Pour in the buttermilk and mix again to combine.

Zest the lemons and oranges into the bowl and fold through the batter. Gently fold through the flour and baking flour. Pour into your tin and bake for 35 minutes at 180 degrees. It will be golden on top and a knife should come out of the centre clean. Let it cool completely while you make your icing.

Whisk the icing sugar and lemon juice together until you've got it to a consistency like cream. Cover the top of the cake in the icing and decorate - I chose edible flowers for this one but it's lovely with more orange and lemon zest too.