When I wrote the recipe for my strawberry shortcakes I mentioned that the wee village I live in becomes carpeted with tiny wild strawberries during the summertime and this year is no exception.  They’ve put their little runners out and have expanded out across the rockery and have even started enroaching onto the driveway, but I don’t mind in the slightest because along with enjoying their pleasant greenery, I also love the vivid scarlet little fruits they offer in return for letting them live here. That seems like a decent compromise, to me.

I love my strawberry shortcake recipe because I really enjoy the contrast of the soft fresh strawberries with the sweet, crisp shortcake biscuits, but this year I fancied trying to incorporate them into a light sponge cake, so this strawberry cake was created as a result. You don’t need to use wild strawberries in this strawberry cake recipe though because normal strawberries that have been chopped up will work just as well.

This strawberry cake is a gorgeously light little sponge which is peppered throughout with chunks of sweet strawberry and is sandwiched and topped with fluffy buttercream icing that’s decorated with sliced fresh strawberries. All in all, it’s an absolute celebration of the delicate fruit which is the strawberry.

Ingredients:

100g butter (or non-dairy version)

100g sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

80g self-raising gluten-free flour (I use Dove’s Farm G/F flour because it’s made with low FODMAP ingredients whereas many other gluten-free flours are made with high FODMAP options.)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

80g strawberries (chopped into quarters) and a couple to decorate the cake

For the buttercream icing:

100g butter (or non-dairy version)

150g icing sugar

2 tbsps non-dairy milk (or lactose-free normal milk)

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180C/160 Fan/350F/Gas Mark 5 and line a 9 inch cake tin with greaseproof paper. (Or make life simple for yourself and do as I do and use these pre-prepared cake tin liners. They’re so convenient!)

Put your butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk again until combined.

Add the flour, baking powder and xanthan gum and whisk until combined.

Gently fold the strawberries into the mixture so they are combined into the cake mix (but keep a couple aside to decorate the cake) and pour the cake batter into your prepared cake tin.

Bake in the oven for 25-30 mins or until a skewer pushed into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Leave the cake to cool and make the buttercream icing in the meantime by mixing all of the icing ingredients together until combined.

Once the cake is cool, remove it from the cake tin and cut it in half horizontally.  Place half of the icing on the bottom half of the cake and spread it out before placing the other half on top and topping it with the rest of the icing.

Thinly slice the remaining strawberries and decorate the cake with them before serving.

IF YOU LIKE THIS TRY THIS:

Rhubarb and Ginger Crumble 

PINEAPPLE UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

SNICKERDOODLES 

CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE

RICE CRISPY CAKES

CHOCOLATE SOUFFLÉS 

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