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The perfect summer cake recipe! This Pimms Cake recipe is surprising easy, looks impressive and tastes absolutely delicious. Towering with strawberries and drizzled with Pimms syrup, this is a show stopping afternoon tea bake.

Side photo of Pimms cake topped with piped buttercream icing, cucumber, strawberries, orange segments and mint on a white plate in a garden with green grass in background to demonstrate pimms cake recipe.Being everso slightly food obsessed almost all of my plans for any event or occasion revolve around the food. Summer is no exception. HELLO Pimms Cake!

If there’s a holiday coming up, I will be thinking of the baklava or the Greek salad long before I plan the beach outings. But summer, when the talk turns to Pimms, honestly? I’m not the biggest fan.

Barbeques, mojitos, fresh fruit, I am all over that seasonal summer eating. But the Pimms? I can’t quite love it as much as I want to. It’s just too sweet for my boozing tastes, so, I ask you, what treat cannot be improved by putting it into a giant cake?!

Side photo of Pimms cake with spoon drizzling pimms syrup on cake topped with piped buttercream icing, cucumber, strawberries, orange segments and mint on a white plate in a garden with green grass in background to demonstrate pimms cake recipe.I made this Pimms Cake recipe for our first barbeque of the year and everyone loved it. Perhaps something about piles of fruit on top helped us to convince ourselves that it was the healthy option for pudding?

Anyway, it really is a simple to make show-stopper. Just the way I like ’em.

Bowl of buttercream icing frosting in a glass bowl for Pimms Cake recipe on white background.

How do you make a Pimms Cake?

This Pimms Cake recipe is based around a simple sponge batter, baked in 3 layers, drizzled with a Pimms syrup and decorated with light fluffy lemon frosting and fresh fruit.

I love a homemade cake more than most people but here’s a secret, in you’re in a push you could construct a cheat’s version of this cake. Buy a ready made Victoria Sponge and a tub of ready made icing, make your syrup and decorate with fruit. Bob’s your uncle, Pimms Cake there you go.

Layer of sponge cake covered with piped white buttercream icing and strawberries for Pimms layer cake recipe.

Tips for making the Pimms Cake recipe:

  • Add the fruit to the top of the Pimms cake just before serving if possible, this stops it from going soggy.
  • The cream cheese in the icing is optional as it’s only a small amount, but it does add a soft, silky smoothness to the icing. Just be sure to stir in carefully so that the icing doesn’t go runny.
  • If you don’t have piping bags, you can slather the icing on with a knife or palette knife. I love this handy little helper for decorating cakes: Cake Knife on Amazon (plus a bargain buy at £2.99).
  • Serve this sponge cake as fresh as possible. No more than two days after baking for it to taste as good as possible.
Side photo of Pimms cake topped with piped buttercream icing, cucumber, strawberries, orange segments and mint on a white plate in a garden with green grass in background to demonstrate pimms cake recipe.

Useful tools for making the Pimms Cake recipe:

  • Piping bags – If you buy one thing for making pretty cakes, let it be disposable piping bags! I know we are all reducing plastic, but the volume of washing up liquid it takes to get reusable ones clean, I am sure the damage to the environment it worse.
  • Palette knife – If you’re not using piping bags, this nifty little helper is so useful for decorating cakes (and lifting big cakes). Once you have one, you’ll find that you use it ALL the time. Plus a bargain at £2.99.
  • Baking tins – Good quality baking tins will revolutionise your baking. They don’t need to be expensive, but sturdy. They make sure that your sponge cooks evenly and not too quickly. I like these tins as they have loose bottoms too. They are also the deep size that I use for most of my cheesecake recipes.
Overhead angled photo of Pimms cake topped with piped buttercream icing, cucumber, strawberries, orange segments and mint on a white plate in a garden with green grass in background to demonstrate pimms cake recipe.

Fancy some other easy cake recipes? How about my Gin and Tonic Cake Bars or my Nutella Cake?

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. I’d love to know how you got on and what you thought of it if you make this Easy Pimms Cake recipe. Please rate the recipe and leave me a comment below if you do.

Also, if you fancy showing me a photo by tagging me on Instagram (@tamingtwins) I LOVE to see your creations.

Side photo of Pimms cake topped with piped buttercream icing, cucumber, strawberries, orange segments and mint on a white plate in a garden with green grass in background to demonstrate pimms cake recipe.

How to make the Pimms Cake recipe:

4.88 from 8 votes

Pimms Cake

A perfect summer sweet treat. A layer cake drenched in Pimms and fresh fruit.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 12 People

Ingredients 

  • 350 g Unsalted butter
  • 350 g Caster sugar
  • 6 Free range eggs
  • 350 g Self raising flour
  • 2 Lemons, Zest only
  • For the syrup:
  • 300 ml Pimms
  • 100 g Caster sugar
  • For the icing:
  • 150 g Unsalted butter
  • 300 g Icing sugar
  • 2 tsp Lemon extract
  • 100 g Full fat cream cheese, Optional
  • To decorate:
  • Half a cucumber, sliced and chopped into small pieces
  • 2 Oranges, peeled and cut into small pieces
  • 350 g Strawberries, hulled and cut into small pieces
  • A handful of small sprigs of mint

Instructions 

  • Grease 3 x 7″ round sandwich tins (or 2 x 8″).
  • Preheat the oven to 180C.
  • Cream your room temperature butter with your sugar until it’s pale, light and fluffy.
  • Mix in the eggs, one at a time, beating really well after each egg. Don’t worry if it starts to look a bit curdled, it’ll all come good.
  • Mix in your flour and lemon zest. If you’ve been using a mixer, do this bit by hand. It helps to keep the sponge light.
  • Spoon into a your tins, smooth out with the back of a spoon. Make a bit of a dip in the middle to account for rising.
  • Bake for about 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. You might need to adjust the time by 5 minutes either way depending on your oven.

Make the syrup:

  • Pop the Pimms in a pan with the sugar and bring to the boil. Continue to let it bubble for about 6 or 7 minutes until it has thickened. Allow to cool (it will get thicker as it cools).

Make your icing:

  • Beat your butter until it’s pale, light and fluffy.
  • Beat in your icing sugar, beating for at leave 5 or 10 minutes until very fluffy and pale. 
  • Mix in the lemon extract and cream cheese if using.

Put it together:

  • When your cakes are completely cold, use a carving knife to level them. Just trim the top crust off. This is important, it’s not a waste of cake (taste testing compulsory). If you don’t do this, with a cake this size it will be wonky.
  • Drizzle a couple of dessert spoonfuls of syrup over each layer of sponge cake.
  • Sandwich each layer together with some of your buttercream and some of the fruit (reserving plenty of fruit, and the mint, for the top).
  • Put a dollop of icing on top of the cake and pile on the fruit. Drizzle the remaining syrup and decorate with mint leaves.

Nutrition

Calories: 710kcalCarbohydrates: 91gProtein: 7gFat: 36gSaturated Fat: 22gCholesterol: 171mgSodium: 38mgPotassium: 157mgFiber: 1gSugar: 68gVitamin A: 1210IUVitamin C: 39.4mgCalcium: 40mgIron: 0.8mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Family Food
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Sarah Rossi founder of TamingTwins.com and author of 'What's for Dinner?' books.

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10 Comments

  1. Hi Sarah, the pimms cake looks fabulous, I’m planning to make it for a 40th party next week. Please could you let me know – are the eggs med or large? Thank you, Clare

  2. Oh my goodness this sounds AMAZING! Gorgeous photos too – eyes up bottle of strawberry Pimms on the countertop….

  3. Wow! This cake looks incredible. It looks like the Pimms syrup has made the sponge deliciously sweet and sticky.
    I know this would go down very well indeed amongst my friends and family! I might have to leave the cucumber off the top though, there are enough complaints when I put it into an actual jug of Pimms, to have it on a cake might send my cucumber hating friends over the edge!

    Jennie // Scarletscorchdroppers