Raspberry and Lemon Vintage Heart Cake

1. Combine the apple cider vinegar and soy milk into a jug, mix thoroughly and set aside to thicken for 5 minutes. This will create your buttermilk alternative.
2. Preheat your oven to 180c fan and line two 6 inch cake tins with parchment paper. I like to use loose bottom tins for easy cake removal.
3. Start by adding your oil and sugar into a mixing bowl and cream these together using a whisk or wooden spoon. Do so until pale and fluffy, then whisk in the milk mixture. Add in your Belvoir Farm Raspberry and Lemon Cordial, vanilla, dry ingredients and lemon zest, then fold everything together until fully combined and you’re left with a smooth batter.
4. Divide this between your cake tins and place into the oven to bake for 30 minutes. You’ll know your cakes are done when a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Transfer these to a wire wrack and leave to cool completely.
6. Meanwhile, to make your frosting, add your butter into a stand mixture and beat until light and creamy. Gradually add in the icing sugar, whilst continuing to mix the frosting.
7. Divide the frosting with 1/2 in one mixing bowl and the other 2/4 into two smaller bowls.
8. Mix a few drops of your pink food colouring into the larger portion of icing to create a pale pink colour. Add more if necessary, until you’re happy with the shade of pink.
9. Then, repeat this process for one of the other batches of frosting to create a dark pink. The remaining icing will be left white.
10. To assemble your cake you will need to begin by first creating the heart shape. To do so, twim two semi circles off one end of the circle leaving a point at the end. Place these at the top of the sponge on the opposite end to form a heart shape. Once you’re happy with the positioning, secured these using a little of the pale pink frosting.
11. Pierce the top of the sponge with a fork and brush some of the cordial over – this will infuse flavour and keep your cake really moist! Spread over an even layer of frosting, then place your second sponge layer on top.
12. Repeat the above process, then coat the entire cake in the pale pink frosting and smooth this over using a palette knife and cake scraper if you have one!
13. For the piping, this can be done however you like but, here we have used a variation of star tip nozzles to add swirls to the top and base of the cake.
14. Add the white icing to a piping bag and trim off the end to create a small hole. Pipe your desired text to the top of the cake and draw on some mini love hearts (optional!)
15. Garnish with berries and sprinkles to finish.

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