Royal Wedding Cake Recipe (2024)

This lemon elderflower cake is light and fluffy but still moist and it’s filled with a homemade lemon curd and covered in creamy elderflower Swiss meringue buttercream! It tastes SO GOOD, and with a spray of soft pink buttercream peonies on top it looks pretty fab too!

By popular request I give you my take on the royal wedding cake! I actually love lemon and elderflower so this was really a pleasure to recipe test and eat! Not sure if they look more like peony or rose blossoms but either way I like em!

This lemon elderflower cake is perfect for any occasion! If you saw the smash cakes I made for the twin’s first birthday you know I will put pink flowers on a boy’s birthday cake! ?

About the Flavor

The lemon curd is so bright and flavorful, it’s really a grand trick for something to have a decent amount of butter in it but still taste light and refreshing. For those of you not familiar, elderflowers have a fragrant and floral taste with hints of citrus making them the perfect partner for lemons.

There was a huge elderflower co*cktail craze in the late nineties-early aughts but I really hadn’t heard much about them until the ROYAL WEDDING again popularized the flavor.

I should point out that elderflower is much more popular in other countries like Canada than in the US. If you make this recipe there will be lots of left over elderflower syrup so feel free to add a splash to your next gin and tonic, vodka soda or seltzer water!

OK I just had to show you a closeup of the piece. I love that bright, sunny lemon curd and yes, you can totally use store-bought if time is an issue, but I’m obsessed with home-made fruit curds!!! By the by these would be amazing cupcakes. I would hollow the inside and fill with lemon curd then top with the swiss meringue buttercream. If you’re looking at this recipe and thinking, hmm looks good but I wish it were an amazing vanilla cake instead, I hear you! You can click here for my favorite vanilla cake recipe and then just use the lemon curd and elderflower buttercream to assemble it. That recipe also makes three six inch cakes so it’s an easy swap.

A Few Pointers

• If you’re not using 6-inch pans, double the recipe for 8-inch pans or triple the recipe for 9-inch pans.
• If you see little clumps of butter after you mix the wet ingredients don’t panic, it all works out by the time you mix in the dry ingredients. You can even use melted butter and warm the milk and sour cream up a bit if you like.
• You can substitute whole milk yogurt for the sour cream if desired, I do it all the time and can’t really tell the difference.
• To get FLAT layers that are moist inside and out try using cake strips! You can buy a set on the shop page or make your own from foil and paper towels at home. I made a whole blog post on it so check it out if you’re interested!
• If you don’t have much experience making buttercream flowers you can add some real flowers on top or check out my how to make buttercream flowers post with how to video.

Styling Tip

I really loved the look of these buttercream peony blossoms on the cake but if you’re not into piping flowers then add a real peony on top, some actual elderflowers, pictured below, or some arrangement your favorites!

If you find cake decorating to be a bit intimidating then check out my How to Decorate a Cake post, it has lots of helpful tips and a full how to video.

Steps for Making this Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour three 6-inch cake pans. Add on damp baking strips. Zest and juice a lemon. In a standing mixer, sift in the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Give it a whisk and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, add egg whites, milk, elderflower syrup, lemon juice, lemon zest and sour cream. Whisk together.
3. Add a paddle attachment to the stand mixer. Add in room temperature butter in cubes or pieces.
4. Switch to a whisk attachment. On medium speed, beat for ½ of the wet mixture into the crumby dry mixture. Scrape the bowl down and add the remaining wet mixture. Beat until combined. Pour the batter into the pans. I use a kitchen scale for more precision. Bake for 35 -40 minutes and/or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let the cake layers cool in their pans for about 5 minutes, them dump them out onto a wire rack to cool to room temperature.
5. Cut cold butter into 1 inch cubes. Strain the egg yolks through a sieve. Beat with a french whisk. While mixing, add in the sugar. It’ll turn into a light lemon color. Add lemon juice in. Transfer the bowl to a medium low heat while whisking constantly. Once it hits 170F, it will change consistency. This can be tested by dipping the back of a wooden spoon and running your finger through. Add in the cubed butter. Pour into a bowl, cover with plastic and transfer to the fridge to set for a few hours. Transfer to a piping bag for assembly. Snip off the tip.
6. Add egg whites, sugar and salt in a bowl. Give the mixture a brief whisk. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water. Make sure the water does not touch the bowl. Whisk the egg whites occasionally while it warms up. When the mixture has warmed, whisk it constantly. You will heat the mixture until it reaches an internal temperature of 160ºF or until it’s not grainy between your fingers.
7. Transfer the bowl to a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Whip until you get room temperature glossy peaks.While the mixture is running on low, add tablespoon sized dollops of room temperature butter making sure to let the butter incorporate before you add the next piece.
8. Add in the elderflower syrup. Transfer it to a piping bag. Snip off the tip when ready to use.
9. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the room temperature butter until smooth. Sift in the confectioner’s sugar. You can add the sugar in two batches. Beat until you get to a desired consistency. Add a few drops of rose water. Make sure the buttercream is thick. Dye a few batches yellow, soft pink and pink. Use some matcha powder to create a natural leaf color. Transfer to piping bags fitted with a 120 and 127 tip to make the petals. Cut a square of parchment paper. Use a tiny bit of buttercream to glue down the paper onto a piping nail.
10. For the roses, pipe a small cone of very thick buttercream in the middle of the square. Add bits of yellow in the middle for added dimension.
11. Pipe a thick ring of swiss buttercream along the perimeter of cake layer. Pipe in the lemon curd in the middle. Add the next layer and repeat the process. Transfer to the fridge to chill for a few minutes.
12. Add swiss buttercream on the outside of the cake. Even out the Swiss buttercream with a bench scraper and offset spatula. Chill the cake again. If you’re baking in a warmer climate, keep the cake in the fridge until you’re ready to add the roses on. Pipe a crescent ring of Swiss buttercream on the top of the cake. Use scissors to transfer roses to the ring. Pipe in leaves to create some more dimension.

If you love this recipe try these out!

Lavender Tea Cake

Brown Butter Cake

Lemon Lavender Poppy Seed Pound Cake

Funfetti Cake

Perfect Vanilla Cake

Tiramisu Cake

Summer Berry Cake

If you’ve tried this cake then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!