Strawberry cake

Make the most of strawberry season with our strawberry cake, with light sponge, jam and soft cheese icing. It makes a fabulous centrepiece dessert

  • Prep:40 mins
    Cook:30 mins
    plus cooling
  • Serves 16
  • Easy

Nutrition per serving

  • kcal 719
  • fat 32g
  • saturates 19g
  • carbs 100g
  • sugars 81g
  • fibre 2g
  • protein 7g
  • salt 1g

Ingredients

  • 400g softened butter, plus more for the tin
  • 400g caster sugar
  • 5 large eggs
  • 400g self-raising flour
  • 100ml natural yogurt
  • 300g strawberries, hulled and halved
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 100g butter, softened
  • 250g soft cheese
  • 600g icing sugar
  • 400g strawberry jam

Method

  1. Butter and line the bases of three 18cm cake tins. Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Blend the butter and sugar in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, flour and yogurt and blend again. Add 200g strawberries (save the best ones to decorate) and the vanilla. Blend once more, until the mixture is well combined.

  2. Divide the cake batter evenly between the three cake tins. Spread and smooth the tops with a spatula, then bake for 25-30 mins, until the cakes have risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Return to the oven for another 5 mins if any wet mixture clings to the skewer. Leave in the tins for 5 mins, then turn onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely. The cakes can be made up to two days before icing, or frozen for two months.

  3. For the icing, blend the butter and half the sugar until smooth and creamy, add the soft cheese and the remaining sugar and blend again. Be careful not to over mix as the icing will become runny. (If you do overmix, don’t worry – keep mixing with an electric whisk and it’ll thicken back up).

  4. Layer the cakes with the jam and half the icing. Invert the final cake on top, so the base of the cake it now the top, giving you a flat surface. Pile the rest of the icing on top of the cake, using a palette knife to spread the icing over the top and down the sides. Save a little icing to pipe rosettes around the edge of the cake, if you like. Top with the remaining strawberries. Can be made up to a day ahead of serving, keep somewhere cool or in the fridge. Will keep for three days.

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