Strawberry & Elderflower Angel Slice
Or strawberry & elderflower cake if you'd rather!
I’m not sure why but the older I get, the more I’m drawn to classic supermarket cakes. Perhaps it’s because I was never really allowed them as a child, my mum is an excellent baker and the horror that she felt towards supermarket cakes somewhat rubbed off on me. However, ever since I’ve started writing my own recipes I’ve felt drawn to all of the Mr Kipling classics; fondant fancies, mini battenberg, angel slice, I can’t get enough! That’s not to say that I’m happily munching my way through packets and packets of the things (perhaps the occasional battenberg) but there’s something about these pretty little cakes that draws me in.
If you’ve never heard of angel slice, let me tell you about it! Not to be confused with American angel cake (a super light and fluffy egg white sponge), angel slice consists of 2-3 layers of rich butter cake, usually coloured pink and yellow, sandwiched together with buttercream and topped with icing. It’s really a very simple cake, it’s main appeal is the icing on top and the pretty combination of colours. Be warned, this cake is on the sweet side!
I have taken precautions to counteract some of the sweetness; rather than jam between the layers we’re using a roasted strawberry puree that is only sweetened with elderflower cordial. Roasting the strawberries intensifies the flavour and gets rid of any excess moisture to give us a really thick and tangy puree! We also use this puree in the icing, with the addition of a little bit of citric acid. The citric acid isn’t essential but it really helps to add a bit of zing to an otherwise very sweet icing, and, unlike lemon, it doesn’t dilute the flavour of the strawberries at all. I’d really recommend using it, it’s a staple in my kitchen, if you want to know more about it you can read all about citric acid here.