Can I Make The Lemon And Elderflower Pudding Cake In Advance?

Our answer

Nigella's Lemon And Elderflower Pudding Cake is a gluten-free dessert that can also be made with regular flour. The cake is flavoured with lemon and elderflower and after baking the sponge is doused with a syrup made from lemon juice and elderflower cordial (elderflower syrup). The sponge is mixed in a food processor, which only takes a minute or two. The pudding is at its best both flavour, and texture-wise, when it is still warm. So we would not recommend baking it more than an hour ahead of serving. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days and reheated in individual portions in a microwave, but they are not quite as good as the freshly made pudding.

The delicate, floral flavour of elderflower is difficult to replace, so we can't really recommend a substitute, especially as you would need to find a cordial or syrup in an alternative flavour. However, we would suggest trying Nigella's Marmalade Pudding Cake as a possible alternative, if you are able to use regular plain flour.