Strawberries and Fresh Cream Cake

Food porn alert!

I could wax lyrical about this cake ad nauseum. Especially since it's a miserable rainy day, the thought of light fluffy vanilla-scented butter cake, sandwiched between layers of fresh cream and tart-sweet strawberries is enough to lighten my mood.

The cake is delicate, using egg whites instead of yolks or whole eggs to give it a lightness. The butter and milk moistens the cake and gives it a rich flavour.

The fresh cream frosting is pure unadulterated and shameless. Simply pure cream, with sugar, a hint of vanilla and some cornstarch to stabilise it for frosting, it's so good you can eat it straight from the bowl.

For the cake, you'll need:

• 135g egg whites (from approximately 4 eggs)
• 1 cup milk, separated into 1/4 and 3/4 cups
• 2.5 tsp vanilla extract
• 300g sifted cake flour
• 300g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp + 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 170g butter, softened and cubed

Preheat oven to 180C.

Grease two 9-inch round springform cake tin and line the bottom with parchment or greaseproof paper.

In a medium bowl, lightly whisk together egg whites, 1/4 cup of milk and vanilla.

Add the butter and remaining 3/4 cup milk and mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase speed to medium and beat for another 1.5 minutes. This adds air to the batter and helps create the volume and structure of the cake. As you beat, make sure to keep scraping down the sides.

Gradually add the egg mixture in 3 batches, beating for about 20 seconds after each addition. Don't forget to keep scraping down the sides!

Pour 1/3 of the batter into one tin and 2/3 into another. Smooth the surface with a spatula. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Let the cakes cool on racks for 10 minutes. You'll notice that the sides will shrink away from the tin as it cools. Once the cakes are cool enough to handle, run a knife or spatula around the sides of the cake to make sure nothing sticks.

Remove the springform sides, and transfer to a cake board.

Now, on to the strawberries and cream:

• 500g of fresh small strawberries
• 40g icing sugar
• 3 teaspoons cornstarch
• 3 cup cream
• 1.5 teaspoon vanilla

Slice thinly or dice half the strawberries. This will go in between the layers so if you prefer chunks, dice them instead of slicing. Trim off the leaves of the other half and cut into halves. This will be used to decorate the top of the cake.

To make the whipped cream, refrigerate your mixing bowl and beater in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. Cold equipment ensures the stability and integrity of the whipped cream. Ever seen melted whipped cream? Pretty nasty...

Mix sugar and cornstarch together in a small saucepan, then gradually add one quarter of the cream, using a wire whisk to mix out all the lumps. Transfer to stovetop on medium heat. Keep stirring, and stirring, and the mixture will thicken. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In a mixing bowl, beat the remaining cream and vanilla until traces of beater marks begin to show distinctly.

Be careful not to overbeat or what you'll end up with is literally butter. Which, isn't all that bad... if that happens, just add fine caster sugar and keep going until you see it form a curd-like mass. Pack it all into a pot and you have homemade clotted cream (which is like a creamy butter). Oh yes, and start on the whipped cream all over again, and this time, pay attention!

Add the cornstarch and sugar mixture in a steady stream to the whipped cream, beating constantly. Beat until stiff peaks form when you raise the beater.

Chill in fridge for 30 minutes.

OK, now to assemble the cake. Frosting beginner? Click here for a step-by-step picture guide on frosting cakes.

Slice the thicker cake into 2 layers.

Lay the thinner cake on a cakeboard and spread with a layer of cream. Place a layer of sliced or diced strawberries and cover with the next layer. Repeat until you have 3 berry creamy layers.

Once the layers are assembled, brush off extra crumbs off the top of the cake. Then frost all over with cream. Decorate with strawberry halves and chill for another hour to set the cake before serving.