Moist and melt-in-the-mouth, with its luscious sponge sharpened by tart gooseberries and sweetened by a crunchy sugary topping; this lovely cake celebrates all that is English with its summer fruits fragranced with syrup made from hedgerow blossom. Here in England, Belvoir Fruit Farms make a dazzling array of “so long forgotten” non-alcoholic cordials such as Elderflower, Spiced Apple and Ginger or Rhubarb and Strawberry. This vivacious cake has the potential to be a great mixer and would love to mingle with a kaleidoscope of other fruits and cordials or liqueurs. What about trying cherries and Kirsch, summer fruits with raspberry and rose cordial or apples with Calvados?
Go on, toss a few berries in some sugar and make a cake to melt someone’s heart!
Gooseberry and Elderflower Cake
200g/ 7oz soft butter, plus little extra for greasing cake tin
150g/5oz caster sugar, plus 2 tblsp for dusting
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tbsp Elderflower cordial
220g/7 and half oz self raising flour
250g/8oz gooseberries
50g/2oz granulated sugar
METHOD
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F/ Gas 4. Grease and line base of 20cm loose based cake tin.
- In a bowl beat butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
- Gradually beat in the eggs and cordial. Then fold in the flour with a metal spoon.
- Carefully fold in three quarters of the gooseberries. Spoon the cake mixture into the tin and smooth the top. Toss the remaining gooseberries with the granulated sugar and pile all on top of the cake.
- Cook for 45 minutes, covering loosely with foil if it starts to go too brown.
- Remove from the oven and dust with 2tbsp of caster sugar. Allow to cool in the tin before serving.
Dartmoor Flower Shed 
Oh my goodness … very very tempting! Love the idea of using elderflower cordial with the gooseberries.
I love putting Gooseberries and Elderflower together. A friend told me yesterday that Marks and Spencer do a fabulous G & E yoghurt.
I love seasonal, but what is nice about using the cordial is that if you freeze a few gooseberries now then you could make this later on in the year.
This is gorgeous, Karen! Gooseberries and elderflower are pretty exotic ingredients for my part of the world so I love that you gave some alternative ideas. The apple and Calvados appeals especially!
Thank you Kerry. It is a good recipe and may come in useful one day.
I can almost taste it! Yum, yum.
Mmm…it was very moreish. But I have just ordered a very special tin for a new cake! Watch this space!
Wonderful! Reminds me of my mom’s home cooking. She was English and she loved baking breads and rolls. My favorite was her cardamom bread. She would bake it in a coffee tin so it came out round. She sprinkled milk and sugar over the top so it rose out of the tin sweet and crunchy. I loved to slice it thick, butter and broil one side and eat it with coffee and cream. Heaven
I loved your story of your Mother’s special cake and the tin she baked it in. Do you have the recipe? I do hope she wrote it down. What a treasure trove her recipe book would be!
I will go hunting for it!
Thank you
Mouthwatering photo and thank you so much for that recipe. I am very fond of everything elderberry and I never ever thougth of putting that in a cake!!! And cake in a necessity in live at least once a week….
I will try this for sure, thanks again Karen!
Thank you so much! I love baking and have become very popular recently because I always share the cake with friends. I live on my own and would never fit in my clothes if I ate it all!
Sounds and looks wonderful.
Thank you Gretchen.
Sounds lovely… my gooseberries are pink ones, so not ripe yet, but I wonder about raspberry and framboise?
Sounds luscious!
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