A zesty, herby cake with flavours of orange and rosemary – bake one in time for tea!
Ingredients
For the cake
- 200g caster sugar
- 200g softened butter
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 200g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp milk
- finely grated zest of 1 orange
- ½ tsp very finely chopped fresh rosemary
For the buttercream filling
- 100g butter, softened
- 140g icing sugar, sifted
- 2 oranges
- 100g caster sugar
- 8 small sprigs rosemary
Method
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Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Butter two 20cm sandwich tins and line with non-stick baking paper. In a large bowl, beat all the cake ingredients together until you have a smooth, soft batter.
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Divide the mixture between the tins, smooth the surface with a spatula or the back of a spoon, then bake for about 20 mins until golden and the cake springs back when pressed. Turn onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.
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To make the buttercream filling, beat the butter until smooth and creamy, then gradually beat in icing sugar. Peel and cut out segments of an orange with a knife, then set aside for the decoration. Squeeze the juice from what’s left and add to the butter cream.
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Bring the juice of another orange, the caster sugar and the sprigs of rosemary to the boil in a small saucepan. Strain the syrup over the tops of the warm sponges – reserving the rosemary, cool, then sandwich together with the buttercream.
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Decorate the cake with the orange segments and candied rosemary. Keep in an airtight container and eat within 2 days.