STRAWBERRY CAKE

This cake is to get us excited about the oncoming burst of berries; it is the perfect cake for parties, picnics and birthdays!

Maked 15 squares175g unsalted butter

70g (3 Tbsp) sour cream or crème fraiche

1 tsp vanillla paste or extract

225g plain flour

100g ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

200g caster sugar

5 large eggs, at room temperature

400g strawberries (1 ½ punnets), ½ roughly chopped, ½ finely sliced

50g raw cane sugar, to sprinkle over the cake

icing sugar , to serve Method

Grease a deep, 20 x 30cm baking tray or roasting tin, line with greaseproof. Heat your oven to 160C/140C fan.

Melt the butter, take off the heat and stir in the sour cream or crème fraiche and the vanilla, set aside.

Put the caster sugar and eggs into a large bowl, and whisk with electric beaters until very thick and foamy, about 5 minutes.Mix the flour, almonds, baking powder and ¼ teaspoon fine salt together and set aside. Pour in the butter mix, whisk briefly, then add the flour mix and whisk briefly again until even. Stir in the chopped strawberries, then pour the batter into the tin and level the top.

Scatter the sliced strawberries and the raw cane sugar over the cake, then bake for 45minutes -1 hour until risen, golden and a skewer comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes in the tin, then transfer the cake to a rack.

Just before serving, dust with a little icing sugar.