Strawberries & Cream Cake

Vanilla sponge with strawberry jam, mascarpone cream filling and fresh strawberries

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Keyword Cake

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 35

Total Time 1 5

Servings

Calories 511kcal

Author thebakingexplorer

Pre-heat your oven to 160C Fan/350F/Gas Mark 4 and grease and line two 8" sandwich tins (that are at least 2" deep)
To make the sponge, mix together the caster sugar and baking spread using an electric mixer until it is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes
Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract until well combined
Then gently mix in the self raising flour
Divide the mixture between the tins. You can do this by eye, or use scales for accuracy
Bake them for 35-40 minutes or until they are golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean
Once the sponges are baked, remove from the oven and leave to cool for 15 minutes in the tin. Then run a butter knife around the edges of the tin to loosen them, then carefully tip them out onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely
To make the filling use an electric hand whisk or food mixer to whisk together the mascarpone cheese, double cream, vanilla extract and icing sugar until thick
Put one of the sponges on your chosen cake stand or serving plate and pipe the filling around the edge. Fill the middle with the strawberry jam, then add some fresh chopped strawberries over it
Top with the second sponge and pipe the remaining filling on top of the cake
Add the fresh strawberries on top of the cream all around the edge of the cake, and sprinkle the freeze dried strawberries in the centre
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge and eat within 2 days

Make sure all your ingredients (particularly the butter and eggs) are at room temperature before you start baking.
I used a baking spread for the cake, but you can use unsalted butter too.
I used mascarpone cheese for the filling, but cream cheese will work well too.
You can swap the strawberries for raspberries, and the strawberry jam for raspberry jam if you prefer.
Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50) .
For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.