Janet Berry, a baking and sugarcraft floral expert, is sharing her recipe for elderflower cordial with Cake Life, the perfect accompaniment with her lemon curd cake!

Elderflower Cordial

Celebrate summer with this refreshing elderflower cordial.

Recipe:

25-30 Heads of Elder flowers – please see note

3 Pints of Water

3 Lb Granulated Sugar

2 oz Citric Acid

2-3 Lemons rind grated and Sliced

1- Pick the flowers as soon as you are ready to make it, the fresher the better.

2- Make sure you shake off any little critters, believe me those heads are covered in them.

3- Place the sugar, citric acid and water into the pan, add the grated rind of the two lemons and slices.

4- Cook this until the sugar has dissolved.

5- Pick the flowerheads off the stems as the stems can make the finished cordial bitter, once they are removed from the stems add to the sugar syrup and remove from the heat

6- leave to infuse for 2 days, strain and pour into sterilised jars.

Notes

1-You can use Wild Elderflower or you can use Sambucus black lace which is a common garden elder, if the heads are small then you will need to add more.

2- This cordial does not keep for long, so I always freeze and place in plastic trays and then store in a box.

3- Great for brushing onto sponges for that Elderflower and Lemon Sponge.

4- Great with Gin, Prossecco or even fizzy water!

5- Dilute and pour into lolly containers and freeze for children.