I think I must be one of the few people in the world, or at least the UK, that doesn't like strawberries. That being said, my wonderful boyfriend loves them, so when he requested a Strawberry & Vanilla Cake for his birthday I was happy to oblige! Despite not liking the taste of strawberries, I think they look great and make the cake look very summery and fresh. He loved the cake and was very giddy when he saw the finished product, it got cut minutes after the photo above was taken! Making things for my loved ones is one of the best things about baking as I love how happy they get when you present it to them. If you want to make a strawberry lover very happy here's what to do...
I made a four layered sponge by firstly creaming together 350g butter and 350g caster sugar. I added 6 beaten eggs little by little and whisked in.
I split the mixture into two. In the first lot of mixture I added 2 tsp vanilla extract and 175g self raising flour. I split this into two again for baking. I baked each layer separately, although you could do two layers and slice them in half.
Into the second lot of mixture I added 1/2 tsp LorAnn Strawberry flavor oil, SugarFlair food colouring in Baby Pink to color the batter and 175g self raising flour. Again I split it in half for baking.
I baked each layer of sponge on 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 for around 20 minutes. When the four layers of sponge were cooked I left them to cool.
I made a vanilla buttercream from 300g butter, 600g icing sugar, 3 tsp vanilla extract and 1 tbsp cream cheese.
I put the first layer of sponge on the cake stand and spread strawberry jam over it. I put strips of baking paper around the edges so no buttercream would get on the cake stand.
I continued sandwiching the layers together with strawberry jam until they were all piled high!
I spread the buttercream over the sponge using a palette knife. I tried to make it as smooth as possible, although I am not an expert at this!
After cutting the tops off the strawberries I arranged them on top of the cake. I sprinkled over some white chocolate chips as my boyfriend insisted they were a necessary element of the cake! I think they looked good too and were a good way of filling in the gaps between the fruit. There are lots of other ways you could arrange the strawberries on top - be creative!
I loved the effect of the layers when it was cut, and the cake was very much enjoyed by the birthday boy!