Strawberry and Cream Cake

Nothing is as beautiful in the summer months as locally grown strawberries with softly whipped cream, in a light and airy sponge cake. Serve with a dusting of icing sugar and a smug feeling of pride that everybody will love you, even if it's just for that 10 minutes as they snaffle it down.

200g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

200g caster sugar

200g softened butter or margarine

4 large eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

Filling

4 tbsp strawberry jam

250g fresh strawberries sliced into fifths

300ml double cream 

1 tbsp vanilla bean paste 

Icing sugar

You will also need two 20cm (8 inch) sandwich tins, greased and lined with a disc of buttered baking parchment.

Preheat the oven to 170ºc

Tip all of the cake ingredients into the bowl of a free-standing machine and beat for 2 minutes until smooth. If you don’t have a machine, you can use an electric hand-held mixer but will need to beat for double the time. 

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake tins and spread level using a palette knife. Bake on the middle shelf of the preheated oven for about 22-25 minutes or until golden, well risen and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clean. 

Remove from the oven and carefully turn the cakes out of the tins, peel off the parchment and leave to cool on wire cooling racks. 

Whip together the cream and vanilla bean paste, until you have medium soft peaks. 

Place one of the cooled cakes on a serving plate or cake stand right side up and spread with the jam. Cover the jam with a layer of the fresh strawberries, spoon over the whipped cream. 

Top with the second cake and sprinkle with icing sugar to serve.