10 - Viva Lewes

all good thiNgs
A recipe for a beautiful rose-strewn cake makes for a fitting flourish as Bill Collison
hangs up his pinny and writes his final column for Viva Lewes
It’s coming up to five years since I wrote my first
column for Viva Lewes (beetroot, in case you’re
wondering) and since then we have pretty much
run the gamut of seasonality, and then some.
I’ve really enjoyed sharing recipes and ideas with
you and I’ve written about strawberries and spices,
asparagus and apples, breakfast, lunch, picnics
and barbecues. I’ve written recipes for pancakes
and tarts, stews and burgers, jams and chutneys.
But I think five years of listening to me blather
on is enough for any loyal reader and it’s time to
let someone else pick up the gauntlet (or wooden
spoon).
I’ve worked with some great photographers,
most recently Chelsea Wescott, an 18 year old
whose eye and enthusiasm will carry her far.
This month’s picture was taken by Dan Jones and
features in the recent Bill’s cookbook from which
the recipe is taken.
I thought it would be fitting to end on a high with
a beautiful and easy-to-bake-and-assemble cake
which nicely sums up my attitude to food and
cooking – relatively stress-free but always worth a
double-take, with the devil in the detail.
With space at a premium here, I’m just going
to suggest that first off you bake three Victoria
sponge cake layers, using your favourite recipe.
For the rose-cream filling:
150ml double cream
2 tsp rosewater
4 tbsp raspberry jam
W W W. V i Va L E W E s . C o M
150g fresh raspberries
For the rose glacé icing:
175g icing sugar
2 tbsp warm water
2 tsp rose water
To decorate:
a handful of fresh raspberries
roses
icing sugar, to dust
With all three cakes cooled and ready to go, whisk
the double cream until it stands in soft peaks,
adding the rosewater as you go. Lightly fold in the
raspberry jam to create a ripple effect.
Slather one of the cakes with half of the cream
mixture and scatter with raspberries, slightly
crushed. Top with the second cake, spread more
cream and raspberries over this and top with the
third.
For the pink glacé icing, mix together the icing
sugar, water and rosewater, and stir in the juice
from a few crushed raspberries until it’s all looking
gloriously pink. Drizzle the rose icing across and
don’t worry if things are looking a little tipsy.
Allow jam, cream, berries and icing to slide if they
want to – within reason.
Arrange the roses, dot with rose petals and the
remaining raspberries, and dust with icing sugar.
If you have a cake stand, now’s the time.
Picture by Dan Jones, taken from Bill’s the cookbook,
Cook Eat Smile, published by Saltyard Books
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