Strawberry cake

Instructions

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1. 1 First, make a strawberry reduction. Weigh out 225g strawberries (set the rest aside), remove the stalks and blitz in a food processor until smooth. Pour into a saucepan and cook over a medium heat until reduced to a thick purée, around 5 mins. Leave to cool completely.
2. 2 Melt the butter and leave to cool to room temperature. Butter and line the base and sides of two 20cm cake tins. Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Weigh the sugar and eggs into a large bowl or the bowl of a tabletop mixer. Add a pinch of salt. Beat on a medium-high speed until the mixture doubles in size and is thick and moussey.
3. 3 In a jug, combine the melted butter, strawberry purée, milk, vanilla and lemon zest. If you want the sponge to be a vivid pink, add a few drops of food colouring.
4. 4 Sieve the flour over the egg and sugar mixture. Pour the strawberry mixture into the side of the bowl (it will sink to the bottom). Use a large metal spoon to carefully fold everything together until you have a smooth cake mixture with no streaks of flour or strawberry. Be careful not to overmix the batter as you’ll knock out the air.
5. 5 Divide the cake batter evenly between the tins, then bake for 25 mins until risen and a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean. Return to the oven for another 5 mins if any wet mixture clings to the skewer. Leave in the tins for 10 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely. The sponges can be made up to two days before icing; just wrap them well to prevent them from drying out. Will keep tightly wrapped and frozen for two months.
6. 6 For the icing, beat the butter in a stand mixer until soft and creamy, or do this using an electric whisk. Add half the icing sugar and half the soft cheese, then beat again. Add the rest of the icing sugar and soft cheese, the freeze-dried strawberry powder, milk and food colouring, if using.
7. 7 Thinly slice half of the remaining strawberries and roughly chop the rest. Sandwich the cakes with roughly a third of the icing and chopped strawberries. Pile the rest of the icing on top of the cake and use a palette knife to spread it 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 sliced strawberries. Will keep chilled for up to four days. Remove from the fridge an hour or two before serving.