It’s James’s birthday!! Can you believe, that in all the (three) years that we’ve known each other, we’ve never been able to celebrate the actual day of his birthday together? Work and life just get in the way. And so, I’ve never made him a birthday cake! And because we weren’t together this year either, I thought about just chucking in the towel and giving up on the cake for one more year. James was in Germany for a conference, and then in London to see friends and family. I, with a free Sunday on my hands, dithered between getting a manicure and a massage… or slaving away roasting sugar and making a cake.

Obviously I made a cake, and obviously, motivations weren’t completely selfless. I felt a little bad because I saw that his family had already made him a chocolate cake, but I also had my heart set on chocolate. You know those huge, fluffy, colorful sheet cakes from Costco that you ate all the time as a child, because they would be present at every birthday party, sporting event, and piano recital? Yeah, that cake – I loved that cake, and a few days ago, there was some leftover Costco chocolate cake in the office kitchen from a retirement party. I gobbled down a slice (being unable to resist free dessert), and have been craving more ever since.

I used the Devil’s Food Cake recipe from Bravetart, and the result was a cake that was chocolatey, moist, fluffy, and very very easy. It is truly a one-bowl cake that uses ingredients straight from the fridge, and comes together very quickly. The cake itself was the easiest part of this dessert to make! For the frosting, I also used Stella Parks’s new recipe for Chocolate Swiss Buttercream, which led me down the previously mentioned rabbit hole of roasting sugar (read aaaaall about my thoughts on that here). Whether because of the roasted sugar or not, the frosting was definitely the highlight – smooth, creamy, richly chocolatey, and not too sweet. Swiss buttercream is more labor-intensive than American buttercream, but I think it really tastes more complex, with a smoother, silkier, lighter texture. For all its steps, it’s also a resilient beast, and will bounce back from most supposed disasters. Once you get the hang of what you’re doing, it’s fairly straightforward.

Happy Birthday, Jimmy Ted!!!

Final note: I scaled both the cake and the frosting down 2/3 to make a 2-layer cake, because I still had a freezer full of Reese’s peanut butter cups, so that’s why some quantities are a little wonky. For quantities for the 3-layer cake, follow the links back to the original recipes.

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Devil's Food Cake with Chocolate Swiss Buttercream Frosting

Source: Cake from Bravtart, by Stella Parks. Adapted to make a 2-layer 8-inch cake. For a 3-inch cake, see ingredient quantities here.

Frosting from Serious Eats by Stella Parks. Again, adapted to frost 2-layer cake, hence why quantities are a bit wonky.

For more information on roasted sugar, see here.

Ingredients

Devil's Food Cake:

• 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter
• 1 cup (8 ounces) black coffee
• 2/3 cup (2 ounces) Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 4 ounces (3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon) finely chopped dark chocolate, about 72%
• 1 1/3 cup gently packed (10 2/3 ounces) light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 large eggs, straight from the fridge
• 2 large egg yolks (1 ounce)
• 1 1/3 cup (6 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Chocolate Swiss Buttercream Frosting:

• 1/2 cup (4 ounces) egg whites (from 3-4 large eggs)
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (7 1/3 ounces) roasted sugar or light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 1/3 cup (10 2/3 ounces) unsalted butter, softened and cut into roughly tablespoon-sized pieces
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 1/2 - 9 ounces (1 - 1 3/4 cups) finely chopped dark chocolate, about 72%

Instructions

For the cake:

• Place oven rack in lower-middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Line two 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper and grease with butter or nonstick spray. 
• Combine butter and coffee in a large (5-quart) stainless steel pot, and set over low heat, stirring occasionally. After the butter has fully melted, remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa and chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has fully melted, then stir in the brown sugar, vanilla, and salt. Add the eggs and the yolks, and stir to combine. Sift in the flour and baking soda. Whisk thoroughly to mix, then divide evenly among the prepared cake pans (there will be about 23 ounces of batter in each pan if you're using a kitchen scale).
• Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out mostly clean with a few crumbs still attached. Cool in the cake pans for about 15 minutes, then remove the cakes from the pans. Peeling off the parchment, cool on a wire rack until no warmth remains, about 1 hour.

For the frosting:

• Fill a wide pot with 1-2 inches of water, and heat until gently simmering. Combine egg whites, sugar, salt, and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer, or a stainless steel bowl if using a hand mixer. Place the bowl over the pot of simmering water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. If it does, place a thick ring of crumpled tinfoil on the bottom of the pot to act as a "booster seat" to raise the bowl up.
• Heat egg white mixture over the simmering water, whisking constantly, until mixture reaches 185°F (85°C). This will take about 10 to 12 minutes; if the mixture is heating slowly, turn up the heat. Once ready, remove from heat and transfer to a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whip at high speed for about 10 minutes, until meringue is shiny, stiff, and cool to the touch, around 90°F (32°C).
• With the mixer switched to low, add butter, 1 or 2 tablespoons at a time. Make sure that the butter is close to room temperature to best incorporate with the meringue. After all the butter has been added, the buttercream should be thick, creamy, and soft but not runny, around 72°F (22°C). Add vanilla extract and mix on low speed until combined.
• Melt chocolate, either in a microwave or over a water bath (I did it in the microwave, in 20-second increments, stirring after each increment, until it was fluid and completely melted). You can play around with the amount of chocolate you add - the lower end of the suggested quantity range will produce a "milk" chocolate profile, and additional chocolate will produce incrementally deeper chocolate flavor (I used about 7 ounces, or a little less than 1 1/2 cups).
• Add all of the warm chocolate into the mixer bowl at once, then immediately begin whipping on medium-high speed until fully incorporated. Scrape bowl with a flexible spatula, then mix again for a few minutes until light, creamy, and silky smooth. If desired, adjust to taste with additional salt, vanilla, or melted chocolate.

Assembly:

• Trim the domed tops from the cakes with a serrated knife (they don't have to be perfectly level, just free from major lumps). Place one layer on a serving plate, cut side up. Cover the top with about 1 cup of frosting. Place the second cake layer on top of the frosting cut side down (this will help to reduce crumbs on the top of the cake). Spread a thin layer of frosting all over the cake to make a smooth foundation and trap any crumbs. Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes to set the crumb coat, then cover the cake with the remaining frosting.

Notes

Swiss meringue buttercream is amazingly resilient: if in doubt, just keep whipping. If the buttercream is too warm, it will appear soft and soupy. To fix, place it in the fridge for 15 minutes, then re-whip. If the buttercream is too cold, it will be firm and dense, and look slightly curdled. To fix, set the bowl over a pan of steaming water briefly, until the the edges just melting. Alternatively, scoop out a small amount of buttercream, melt it in the microwave, then add it back to the main bowl. Re-whip to homogenize. For more troubleshooting tips, see here.

My lemon elderflower layer cake is my new baby. You know, life is a journey. And at this point, this cake is definitely the pinnacle of my cake making skills (trust me – that lemon curd is sooooo good). Anyway, I’m also excited about it because I branched out and decorated it with fresh flowers! And, honestly, it’s no mystery why wedding cakes these days are just bursting with fresh flowers – they cover, disguise, and distract from any blemishes, imperfections, or frosting smudges on your cake. Unsure of your frosting skills? Literally pluck a fresh flower on your cake, and it will be elevated from homemade confection to professional beauty.

However, when I was researching the logistics of how to actually put flowers on and in cakes, I couldn’t find that much information online about it. So this is what I did, and hopefully it can be helpful to you!

Before I start, I must warn that using fresh flowers does come with a certain degree of risk management. Flowers, after all, aren’t really meant to be put on food, and so there’s a spectrum of things you can do to manage that risk, which I’ll try to explain. I found a lot of articles online (mostly from bakers) who were horrified at the prospect of putting fresh flowers – any flowers – on baked goods. I’m no horticultural expert, so do the research you need, and think about what you’re comfortable with.

Choosing the Flowers

First, I think it’s important to find organic or pesticide-free flowers. I have no idea what pesticides are used on flowers, and whether you can adequately remove them just by rinsing flowers under clean water. You’re not eating the flowers, but it’s better to be safe than sorry, and especially if you’re putting them on sticky surfaces like buttercream, there’s a good chance that chemicals can transfer to the food. Find a good florist, talk to them about your plans, and see what they say about the treatment, transport, and storage of their flowers. Also ask them how long different flowers will keep and what temperatures they can tolerate without water. Some flowers are more delicate and will wilt very rapidly out of water – try to steer clear of those as much as possible, life will be less stressful!

As for which flowers or greens you should actually choose, that’s another risk management decision. There are some websites that counsel you to only use technically edible flowers. While you’re not eating the flowers, parts of the plant (petals, pollen, filaments, etc.) could still fall onto or touch the cake. Since non-edible flowers contain various toxins, this could be bad. I… sort of tried to do this, but ultimately failed. The local florist which I used (and loved) here in Chicago had a limited selection of non-treated flowers, which really only consisted of absolutely beautiful ranunculus. Unfortunately, ranunculus contain toxins that can irritate the skin and mouth. I tried to find out more information online: which part of the ranunculus was actually poisonous, whether the toxin was in all parts of the flower or only in some parts, how much you’d have to eat to be affected (just a small dusting of pollen? One petal? The whole flower?), how much physical contact would be necessary to release toxins, etc… However, I couldn’t find anything really useful. Turns out, not many people are considering eating ranunculus??

In the end, I decided to just do it – I decided that a light brushing of the underside of the ranunculus against the buttercream would not be a big deal, and if it looked like the flower was really sticking to the buttercream, I could always scrape some buttercream off the affected area. And as of the time of writing, it’s been 5 days since I’ve served the cake, and no one has complained of mouth irritation, so I feel good about this decision. Fortunately, however, there are lots of popular and beautiful flowers on the edibles list, like lilac and roses, so you should be able to find something. You could also try a food seal for more protection (see “Additional Notes” below).

Preparation

Rinse the flowers and greens you’re using under gentle cold water, brushing off any stray dirt or pollen, and running the water through the petals. This will ensure that your flowers are clean and free from bugs. Pat flowers dry with paper towels, and put stems back into water. Keep your flowers in water until you’re ready to decorate. If you use the straw water tubes as I describe below (in the “Decorating the Cake” section), I found that the flowers could probably last the day at room temperature, depending on the size of the straw and the kind of flower. If, however, you’re not providing any water source at all for your flowers, they will wilt rather quickly, especially in hot temperatures. So try to make these flowers or greens more of an accent rather than the main focus, and put them on as late as possible.

Decorating the Cake!

There are a few ways you can decorate with fresh flowers or greens. You could simply lay them on the top or the sides of the cake. This is what I did with the two lilac bunches – one is just resting on the top, and one is resting on the cake stand. I trimmed off the flowers on one side of the bunch resting on the cake stand so that it would lay closer to the cake and “hug” the sides more. Before I did this, the lilac was sort of in a triangle shape, poking off to the side. After, it was half of a triangle, and looked much more integrated into the cake.

For single flowers, you could also try the resting method; however, they’re more likely to topple off or tilt at a weird angle. I prefer to actually stick these into the cake. To do this, I used plastic drinking straws to create little water tubes that: a) become a tool by which to push flowers into the cake, b) provide a physical barrier so that flower fluid from the stem doesn’t leech into the cake and c) if you’re sticking the flowers in to the cake vertically, provide a small reservoir of water for your flowers.

I used regular 1/4-inch diameter drinking straws, because those were the only ones I could find. They were big enough for my flower stems, but just barely. If you can find larger straws (I think the straws provided at McDonald’s or Starbucks might be a tiny bit larger in diameter?), or the straws used for boba, they might work better. Just make sure that the stems of your flowers or greens fit comfortably into the straw.

To make the water tubes, first cut off any bending bits so that your straw is just a straight tube. Next, you’re going to use heat to melt and seal one end of the straw. Over a flat, heatproof surface (I used the bottom of a baking tray), light a match or lighter and hold it to one edge of the straw until the straw starts to melt and shrink. This will only take a second! Quickly blow out the match and then, using another flat, heavy, heatproof object (I used the flat bottom of an oven-proof ceramic bowl), quickly press down hard on the melted plastic and hold for a few seconds until the plastic cools. After the plastic has cooled, you should have effectively sealed the straw at that end. To test, fill the straw with water (due to the tiny volume inside the straw, trickle the water into the straw in as fine a stream as you can to avoid trapping air bubbles and preventing the water from flowing all the way to the bottom of the tube. It also helps to hold the straw at an angle to the trickle of water). After you’ve got water in the bottom of the straw, rub the sealed bit with your dry fingers and thumb. If it’s truly sealed, no water should leak out and you should feel no water between your fingers.

A note about melting plastic: James, who admittedly is not a materials and food scientist by any stretch, seems to think that no harm will come of inserting heated, melted, then cooled plastic into food products. This answer was acceptable to me, as it’s not like I’m melting plastic and dripping it over food. The straw is completely cool by the time it touches the cake. If there are any plastics experts out there who disagree, please do let me know! And if you don’t feel comfortable with melting plastic, maybe there are tiny little glass test tubes you can buy for this purpose? I didn’t research this too closely, but if you have some alternative suggestions, I’d love to know those too.

Use the straw tubes to put flowers into cake:

Trim the unsealed end of the straw tube so that the tube is about 2 – 3 inches long. Trim the flower so that the stem is about the same length as the straw tube. You don’t want the stem to be too long; otherwise, your flower will look like it’s floating above the cake. You don’t want it too short either, though, because then it won’t reach any of the water at the bottom of the tube. Don’t worry too much if the stem is too long for now – you can always trim it after you’ve inserted the straw. Fill the tube with a little water (if using), and place the stem of the flower inside the tube. After placing the flower in, the water level should be about 1/4 inch below the top of the tube – adjust the water amount if necessary.

Push the straw tube gently but firmly into the cake where you want the flower to go. Continue to push the straw tube down into the cake, adjusting the angle if necessary to land your flower where you want. If you feel comfortable in the angle, you can always remove the flower from the tube, and just use the tip of your finger to push the tube down. If you want to keep the flower in the straw tube as you’re pushing down, I find it helpful to push down on the straw edge with a flat, thin object like a butter knife, holding the knife parallel to the surface of the cake, to avoid accidentally touching the frosting. You’ll want the lip of the straw tube to be about flush with the surface of the cake, maybe a tiny bit above, so you can easily remove the straws later. Check how your flower looks. If it’s “hovering” too much above the cake, take it out from the straw and snip a bit off the end of the stem.

Note that if you’re inserting the flowers horizontally, or at a horizontal-ish angle, you won’t really be able to put much water, if any, in the tube. That’s okay, but it’s something you’ll have to keep in mind – maybe keep the flowers in water for as long as you can, and just insert them into the tubes right before you present the cake. Also, try to angle the opening of the straw tubes at least a little bit upward, so that any sap or flower juice from the stem will collect at the bottom of the tube instead of spilling over onto your cake.

As a bonus, because the flowers go into the straws and not into the cake itself, you can always switch the flowers into different straws if you’re not happy with your original arrangement.

Additional Notes:

If you want to provide more of a barrier between the flower and the cake, I did find this special food seal that coats items with a food safe material. I did not use this, so I don’t know how well it would work, or what appearance it would give your sealed flowers / plants. My feeling is that you would only be able to coat the stem and the underside of the flowers. The seal might be a good way to create a physical barrier between the underside of the flower and the cake, if you’re using non-edible flowers and concerned about toxins passing to the cake from contact. If you use it, let me know what you think!

I feel like I should add a legal disclaimer at the end. If you use ranunculus and end up with sore mouth, please don’t sue me. I’m not responsible.

Oh. My. GOD. The royal wedding was this Saturday, where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wed in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. I’m not embarrassed to admit that I watched about two full hours of the coverage, and even teared up a bit when Meghan and her swoonworthy veil started her walk alone down the aisle. Here’s my favorite fun tidbit – Prince Harry had to get special permission from the Queen to wear his beard while in Army uniform! Anyway, James is a Brit, I absolutely adore Meghan Markle, and so it’s no surprise that we were wrapped up in the glitz and glamour. My friend Kate was so excited too she flew all the way from San Francisco to celebrate with us!

And so, when I learned back in March that Prince Harry and Meghan had chosen a LEMON ELDERFLOWER CAKE for their reception, bucking the tradition of heavy celebration fruitcakes and one made by a native Californian, no less (I’m originally from California), I knew immediately that I had to recreate this! I mean, if we’re eating the same cake, it’s practically like we’re at their wedding, right?!

I had a pretty good idea of how I’d go about this. I’ve made Smitten Kitchen’s lemon layer cake before, and it was absolutely delicious and the epitome of spring. And while I love the seven-minute frosting that I made it with that time, Harry and Meghan are having buttercream and by jove, buttercream I will have too! I turned to Style Sweet CA’s Tessa Huff for her reliable and easy Swiss Meringue Buttercream, spiking it with some St. Germain elderflower liquor. I’m also not embarrassed to admit that I took the Friday before the wedding off work to make this cake – these layer cakes take me for-EVER! But after a few fresh flowers plunked on the cake for decoration, I must say that this is one of my best cakes yet. Prince Harry and Meghan are truly inspiring me to live my best life.

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Lemon Elderflower Cake with Buttercream Frosting

Sources:

Cake and lemon curd: Smitten Kitchen

Elderflower buttercream: Style Sweet CA

Note: Feel free to omit the elderflower liqueur if you don't like it, and add 1 1/2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract instead for vanilla buttercream. Or, feel free to try out some other flavoring! 

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour, minus 2 tablespoons
• 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Lemon curd:

• 8 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, cubed
• 3/4 cup lemon juice
• Zest of 3 lemons

Elderflower buttercream:

• 1/2 cup egg whites (from about 4 large eggs)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup elderflower liqueur (such as St. Germain) (optional)

To assemble:

• 3 tablespoons elderflower liqueur (such as St. Germain) (optional)

Instructions

Make the cake:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour the sides of 3 8-inch cake pans, or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Place a circle of parchment in the bottom of the cake pans.
• Mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
• Using an electric mixer, cream butter until fluffy. If your butter is too cold, beat it a bit more here to warm it up. Add sugar and continue to cream well for 6 to 8 minutes, until the mixture is pale yellow, light, and fluffy. Do not rush this step! This is what incorporates air into the mixture and what will cause the resulting cake to be light and airy.
• Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk into the batter, adding the flour in three additions and the milk in two, starting and ending with the flour. Mix after each addition, but don't overdo it - it's okay to stop and go on to the next addition even if you can still see some streaks of flour or milk. Add vanilla and mix until just combined.
• Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Level the batter by holding pan 3 or 4-inches above the counter, and dropping flat onto counter. I do this about 5-7 times per pan. This releases air bubbles in the batter and leads to a more level cake. Bake for 23-25 minutes or until a tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
• Let cakes cool for about two minutes in the pan, then turn out onto cooling racks and let cool completely - this will take at least an hour.

Make the lemon curd:

• Create a double-boiler: Fill a saucepan with a few inches of water and bring to a simmer. Place all the lemon curd ingredients in a metal bowl, and place the bowl on top of the saucepan to create a double boiler. Make sure that the bottom of the metal bowl doesn't touch the water. Cook the mixture, whisking constantly, until it begins to thicken (sort of like the consistency of loose salad dressing) and turns color from a bright yellow to a pale, frothier pastel yellow. You can also check the temperature - it will be done when it reaches 165-170°F. This will take about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Cover and refrigerate until completely cool - it will thicken even more.

Make the elderflower buttercream:

• In a large bowl, or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer if you're using one, add the egg whites and granulated sugar. Whisk them together briefly by hand until combined.
• Create a double-boiler again with a saucepan and simmering water. Place the bowl with the egg whites and sugar on top of the saucepan (again, don't let the bowl touch the water). Heat the egg white mixture, stirring, until it reaches 155-160°F. The mixture should be very hot to the touch and the sugar should be completely dissolved.
• Once the egg white mixture has reached the designated temperature, take it off the heat and beat the mixture with the whisk attachment on high speed for about 8 minutes. You can return the bowl to the stand mixer to do this, or do it with a handheld electric mixer with the whisk attachment. When done, the meringue should hold shiny, medium-stiff peaks and be cooled to room temperature. The outside of the bowl should feel at room temperature. Stop the mixer and swap out the whisk for the paddle attachment.
• With the mixer on low, begin adding in the butter a couple tablespoons at a time. Use the paddle attachment to mix each addition in. The butter must be room temperature in order to incorporate properly with the meringue.
• After the butter has been mixed in, add the elderflower liqueur and mix to combine. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and mix the buttercream until silky smooth, light, and creamy. This may take a few minutes.

To assemble:

• Cut off any domed tops of cakes so that each cake layer is even and flat. Run hands along all sides of the cake to remove excess crumbs. Place one cake layer on your cake stand or pedestal, and brush about 1/3 of the elderflower liqueur onto the top of the cake with a pastry brush. With a pastry bag with a plain round tip, or a plastic bag with a corner cut off, pipe a circle of buttercream around the outer edge of the cake layer. This will add structural integrity, and help to hold the lemon curd in place. Because the lemon curd isn't very substantial, though, the buttercream circle doesn't have to be super thick - maybe about 1/4 inch in height. Spread about 1/3 of the lemon curd on top of the cake inside the buttercream circle.
• Repeat with the remaining cake layers, finishing with elderflower liqueur and lemon curd on the very top of the cake. Brush any remaining lemon curd on the sides of the cake with a pastry brush. Frost the top and sides of cake with remaining buttercream. To frost the top of the cake, it's easiest to pipe the frosting on with a pastry bag or plastic bag first. I use a round tip to pipe a spiral covering the top of the cake, then use an offset spatula to gently smooth out the frosting and fill in any cracks. This will help you frost the top of the cake without pushing off all of the lemon curd underneath.