INGREDIENTS
4 eggs
caster sugar
self-raising flour
butter and margarine, at room temperature
pinch of salt
50 g poppy seeds
1 tablespoon rosewater

Rose Buttercream
75 g white chocolate
300 g icing sugar, sifted
200 g butter, at room temperature
a few drops of pink food colouring
3 teaspoons rosewater edible rose petals to garnish

TO MAKE

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a 23 cm deep cake tin with baking paper. Weigh the eggs in their shells and then weigh the same amount of sugar, flour and half the weight in butter and half in margarine. Beat the butter and margarine together with the sugar in a bowl using a wooden spoon or electric whisk. Beat in 1 egg at a time. Sift the flour and salt over, then sprinkle in the poppy seeds and rosewater. Gently fold in with a metal spoon.

Turn the cake mix out into the prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes or until risen, browned and springy to the touch, or a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Turn it out onto a wire rack, remove the paper and leave to cool.

Meanwhile, for the rose buttercream, melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water then let it cool for at least 10 minutes. This must not be hot when you make the buttercream. Add the icing sugar, butter, colouring and rosewater and beat until light and fluffy.

Cut the cake in half horizontally and sandwich it back together with a third of the buttercream. Spread the rest over the top and around the side of the cake and scatter with edible rose petals.

This is an edited extract from Cooked: Food For Friends by various authors published by Hardie Grant Books and is available in stores nationally.