Strawberry and Lemon Sponge Cake

I stumbled across this recipe while reading Morrison’s March/April magazine online and instantly knew it was one I absolutely had to try. It’s originally billed as a cake for Mother’s Day, but is a perfect summer dessert. Strawberries and cream are infused with tangy lemon curd and sandwiched between light vanilla sponges. This is an utterly British cake, an embodiment of Wimbledon, Pimms, bunting and the Queen. It looks beautiful and is really easy to make: ideal to impress distant family members with your culinary prowess over Easter or an excellent finish to a dinner party with friends as a pre-exams/post-dissertation treat.

You can find the original recipe here, but I’ve put an edited version below.

Ingredients:

250g unsalted butter, softened

250g caster sugar

4 eggs

250g self-raising flour

4 tbsp milk

1-3 tsp vanilla extract (to taste)

For the filling:

284ml Elmlea Light

350g strawberries, chopped, plus 3 large strawberries to decorate

Several tbsps lemon curd (I bought a jar this time, but felt like I was cheating! If you want to do this properly and make the lemon curd from scratch then I have a recipe here.)

 

Method:

Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas 4. Beat together the butter and sugar.

Then add the eggs, flour and milk and beat well until the mixture is light and creamy.

Pour the mixture into two lined cake tins (baking parchment is the best, without a doubt) and bake for about 20-30 minutes or until firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

 

While the sponges are cooling, prepare the filling. Whisk the Elmlea until thick but not forming stiff peaks.

 

Chop the strawberries into small pieces and fold into the Elmlea just before you want to assemble the cake (I suppose you could mix them together earlier, but beware the colour will seep out of the strawberries and it looks better with the sharp contrast between the white cream and red strawberries).

Trim the top of the cake to level it. Turn upside down and place on a plate/cake board. Spread several tablespoons of the filling into the centre, and using a teaspoon ‘dollop’ lemon curd liberally over the filling. Make sure it’s pretty evenly distributed so each slice will have a taste of lemon. 

Top with the other sponge, with the flat base on top.

To decorate, I topped mine with the remaining filling, 3 large strawberries and shavings of lemon rind.

However, Morrison’s suggest coating with glace icing. To do this, place 200g sieved icing sugar in a bowl, add cold water a little at a time and mix to a thick, flowing consistency. Spread the icing over the cake, and let it dribble down the sides. Decorate with strawberries and leave to set.

Keep the cake in the fridge in order to maintain freshness, but make sure to remove 10-15 minutes before serving to take the chill off.

Seriously: you have to give this a go! It doesn’t matter how talented you are in a kitchen: anyone can make this. It doesn’t matter if you struggle to boil an egg or are able to rustle up a 5 course meal from a tin of spam and half a cabbage (ridiculous example, but you get the picture). This is more than doable and will make you look like Nigella Lawson. Plus, it’s super healthy as it’s full of fruit. (that’s a lie, but an excellent excuse to stop you feeling too guilty when reaching for a second slice…)