Elderflower Liqueur

Our answer

Elderflower liqueur has a slightly floral, slightly lime flavour and we would suggest visiting the St Germain Liqueur website where they have many different cocktail recipes. Liqueurs can be difficult to use in baking as the alcohol can evaporate during cooking, taking some of the more delicate flavours with it. However you could add a little of the liqueur to a syrup or glaze to be use don a cake, such as Lemon Syrup Loaf Cake (or the lime version) in Domestic Goddess (p13).

You could also use the liqueur in several different desserts. One way to use it is in a jelly (gelatin) and we would suggest trying the liqueur in Nigella's Prosecco Jelly in Christmas (p80), using the elderflower instead of Cointreau. Elderflower liqueur also matches well with berry fruits and could be used in a traditional trifle, such as the one in Christmas (p42) or a more free-form version such as the Lemon Raspberry Plate Trifle in Domestic Goddess (p153). Syllabub, the light dessert of whipped cream and alcohol, would be a further way to use the elderflower liqueur. You could adapt the syllabub recipe from How To Eat (p127) using white wine instead of the dry sherry and elderflower liqueur instead of the quince eau de vie (omit the rosewater). Serve the syllabub in small glasses with thin, crisp biscuits or spooned over some ripe summer fruits.