Free Recipe: Strawberry and Cream Sponge

This is a cake I made for my Mum's birthday yesterday. As with most of my recipes, it didn't really end up how I originally envisaged it. I was planning on making some homemade strawberry jam for the filling, and although I followed the recipe, it never set. It's still very runny two days later. Instead, I've used it as a kind of topping, but if you've got AMAZING jam skills, feel free to make your own jam for the filling.

Ingredients:

• 300g butter/margarine
• 300g caster sugar
• 300g Self Raising Flour
• 2 eggs
• Vanilla Essence
• Milk

For the topping and filling:

• 100g strawberries
• 200g caster sugar
• 150g Strawberry jam (homemade or shop bought, whatever floats your boat)
• 75g butter/margarine
• 180g Icing sugar

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius.

First, cream the butter and sugar together, before gradually sifting in the self-raising flour. Beat in the two eggs and add a tablespoon of vanilla essence. If your mixture is too thick, you may need to add a drop of milk in order to create a batter-like consistency. Half the mixture between two 8" cake tins (grease them first or regret it later!) Bake in the oven for 30-35mins.

When cool, sandwich the two halves together with your jam. Beat your butter with your icing sugar until quite stiff and spread the buttercream over the top of your cake.

When it comes to decoration, you can let your imagination run wild. I was going for a Great British Bake Off feel, although I'm sure winner Francis wouldn't be too impressed :)

I thinly sliced 3 of my strawberries and placed them on top of the buttercream. Mash your remaining strawberries in a bowl until they are quite liquidy, and then sift in the sugar, making sure it is dissolved. Drizzle this over the top of your cake (you could even put this "sauce" in a jug to pour over individual slices).

Now comes the eating part. Enjoy! Happy Birthday Mum!