Strawberry & lemon cake

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 180ºC, gas mark Butter 2 x 23cm round cake tins and line the bases with buttered baking parchment. Dust the insides of each tin with caster sugar, then with flour, tipping out the excess.

Step 2

Using an electric stand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until you have a soft, mousse-like mixture. You should be able to see ribbons of batter on the surface of the mixture when you lift the beaters. Add the lemon zest and 75ml hot water, then beat slowly just to combine. Sift together the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt and, using a large metal spoon, fold this into the batter. Do it gently, so as not to knock out much of the air.

Step 3

Divide the batter between the tins and bake for 25 minutes. Don’t open the oven during this time. When ready, the sponges should be golden and risen and coming away from the sides of the tins. Leave them in the tins on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto the racks. Leave to cool completely, then carefully peel off the paper.

Step 4

Beat the crème fraîche with a fork to loosen – it’s quite stiff. Beat the double cream in a large bowl with an electric whisk until it holds its shape, then fold in the crème fraîche, lemon zest and icing sugar.

Step 5

Halve or slice the strawberries, depending on their size, and put them in a bowl with the sugar and lemon juice. Leave to macerate for no more than 10 minutes – any longer and the fruit will become too soft.

Step 6

Combine the cream mixture and lemon curd. Don’t mix it too much – you want to see the lemon curd marbling the cream. Put the bottom sponge for the cake on a serving plate. Spread with ½ the lemon curd cream mixture and put ½ the berries on top. Place the other sponge on top – the right way up – and top with the rest of the cream. Put the rest of the strawberries on top – don’t worry if there are red juices running out of them. That’s part of the charm of this cake.