Strawberry Cream Cake (Dear Joe, sometimes you've got to work for it)

The Big Summer Cake

Dear Joe

There’s a summer cake fest next weekend with a few of us Oxford bakers; everyone brings a cake or two, we set up tables outside Hamblin Bread in the covered market, and throw a cake party. I think there will be iced chocolate milk for the crowd, too. Come, if you like! It’s 10 am until sellout, Sunday 27.07.

I bought myself a bouquet of peonies earlier in the week. The flowers bloomed overnight into ruffled bombs. They looked the equivalent of a yawn, a hiccup, and a laugh. They were open and drooping; not flaccid, but feathery. And there was the basis of my cake for the fest - a relaxed hiccup of a cake, but not lacking in fluffed-up summer sass.

The base cake is a bit of a tour de force recipe – its beginnings I’ve taken from a ‘butter sandwich’ recipe in Albert R. Daniel’s 1863 Up To Date Confectionery. I’ve plundered his recipe to adapt a cake that has 3 important qualities; the cake is weighty enough to feel like you’re actually eating cake (unlike a fatless sponge, where the cake can be stacked well, but you miss out on the taste that butter/milk/yoghurt, etc brings), it’s light enough to be stacked (lemon is the acid that helps this), and it’s moist enough to last well in the fridge, so you can fill with cream and custard (a combination of oil, butter and milk does this bit). It can be adapted to make multiple different kinds of layer cakes, depending on what’s in your cupboard and what the occasion is. This cake is dripping in summer’s luxury, with strawberries vamped up in red wine vinegar (don’t be put off, it just makes them taste brighter somehow), lots of cream, lots of custard, lots of jam. A warning before we start, this cake may look nonchalant, but it is not just thrown together. Sorry, but sometimes, you've got to work for it.

MAKE THE CRÈME PAT

Whisk to combine 10g caster sugar, 30g egg yolk, 10g corn flour, and 10g plain flour in a large bowl. In a small saucepan, heat 170g milk, 20g caster sugar, and a dollop of vanilla bean paste (or the seeds from half a vanilla pod) over medium heat until the milk starts to simmer. At this point, slowly pour the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture - pour the milk with one hand, while whisking the egg yolks continuously with the other hand. Rinse out the empty saucepan, wipe it clean and dry. Pour the milk and egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan, and whisk continuously (and vigorously) over medium heat until thickened. Once thickened, keep whisking over medium heat for another minute before removing it from the heat. Stir through 15g unsalted butter, then transfer to a clean bowl. Press some cling film directly onto the surface of the custard, making sure the bowl is completely covered. This will prevent a skin from forming. Cool the custard to roughly room temperature before chilling in the fridge until cold (about 2 hours).

MACERATE STRAWBERRIES

Chop 200g strawberries into bite-sized pieces. Mix them in a small bowl with 1 tbs of caster sugar and a good splash of red wine vinegar. Leave the strawberries covered in the fridge while you do the rest, or let them sit overnight.

MAKE THE CAKE

Preheat the oven to 180/160 fan, grease and line 2 x 8-inch cake tins. In a large bowl, add 135g softened unsalted butter (make sure it’s very soft), 225g caster sugar, a dash of vanilla extract, and a generous pinch of salt. Use electric beaters to cream the sugar and butter until fluffed up around the bowl, and slightly lighter in colour. Add 15g sunflower oil, and 1 medium egg - beat that in until the egg is incorporated. Now add in two more medium eggs, beating one into the batter before adding the next. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Tip in 315g self-raising flour, 180g milk, and 30g lemon juice. Mix with electric beaters for a few seconds, then finish off by folding with a spatula until a smooth batter is formed; it will be quite slack, and some air bubbles will have formed. Divide the batter between the two tins and bake for 25-28 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs. Allow the cakes to cool.

WHISK THE CREAM AND FILL THE CAKE

Using electric beaters, whisk 250g double cream to soft peaks (if you’re nervous about the filling dripping down the sides of the cake, whip the cream to stiff peaks). Fold 100g of the whipped cream into the chilled crème pat. Make sure to slacken the crème pat with a spatula before you fold through the cream. Now spread the top of the first cake with a generous few tbs of whatever jam you have (I’m using strawberry and blackcurrant, which I recently made a lot of… raspberry or blackcurrant would give you a similar sweet/sharp combo). Smooth the crème pat gently over the jam, top with the macerated strawberries (trying not to get too much of the liquid they sit in), then lay over the second cake. Finish the cake with the remaining whipped cream, and shake over some desiccated coconut.

If you want a perfect, clean slice, chill the cake before serving. If you’re like me, eat right away.

Love Caitlin x