Strawberries and Cream Cake (+recipe)

Moist gluten free sponge layered with fresh juicy local strawberries and a naughty helping of whipped cream.

The tastiest cake I have ever made! Made for my dad as part of a late Fathers Day meal as he has been busy, the problem is I am not sure there will be any cake left for him tomorrow as half of it has gone already! Oops!

Recipe

SPONGE
220g self raising flour (+1 tsp of xantham gum if using gluten free flour)
220g softened butter
220g castor or granulated sugar
4 large eggs
6tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract
FILLING/TOPPING
1 Punnet of strawberries
300ml tub of double/heavy cream
3 tbsp of sugar

1. Preheat oven to 200oC and line two 8/9inch cake tins with baking paper.
2. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Whisk in eggs and vanilla until thoroughly mixed and airy.
4. Gently mix in flour (and xantham gum for those gluten free bakers)
5. Add water 1tbsp to loosen the mixture.
6. Divide into baking tins
7. OPTIONAL Place each baking tin onto a deep baking tray and fill halfway up with boiling water, this helps keeps the cake lovely and moist and browns it less, this is how I now make all my cakes, it makes a huge difference so at least give it a go
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.
9. Allow to cool throughly on a cooling rack.
10. Wash strawberries, remove green, slice in half then place on a paper towel sliced side down to drain the juices, reducing the strawberries bleeding into the whipped cream later on.
11. Whip cream with the sugar (add more or less sugar to taste) until you have reached a soft peak.
12. Spread half the cream onto one of the sponges, cover in strawberries, then a few dollops of cream on top to stick on the next layer of sponge.
13. Cover the top of the cake with the remaining cream then get creative with decorating with the remaining strawberries.
14. Best eaten on day of baking, refrigerate remaining cake in a container for up to three days, removing from fridge an hour before serving to allow it to come up to room temperature.

My facebook page [link]