I’ve not used rose water in a cake before, but it has made the icing on this cake so light and delicate – as you would imagine a rose should taste (it won’t, so don’t be tempted). I used a deep 6 inch tin and cut the sponge into 3, but 2 standard 7 inch sandwich tins will work perfectly – just reduce the baking time by 10 mins

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas 4 (180°C) and grease and line the cake tin(s).
2. Beat sugar and butter together until light and fluffy then gradually add the egg (add some of the flour while you do this if your cakes are curdle prone).
3. Fold in the flour with a metal spoon and add the vanilla essence.
4. Divide between the two cake tins and bake for approx 30-40 mins – until the cake is risen and golden (ovens vary and a deep tin will be longer than 2 shallow ones).
5. While the cake is cooling make the frosting by beating cream cheese, butter, rose water, food colouring and icing sugar together.
6. Remove the cakes from the tins and spread some of the icing over the bottom half of the cake, sandwich together (do this again for a three tiered cake).
7. Decorate with the remaining icing and real roses.