About the Recipe
Ingredients
SPONGE CAKE
Butter for greasing
3 eggs
150g caster sugar
110 plain wheat flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
CREAM FILLING
1 Vanilla pod
350 ml single cream
4 egg yolks
4 tablespoons cornflour
100ml double cream
FRUIT FILLING
2kg strawberries, hulled and quartered
500g redcurrants, half de-stalked
Icing sugar, for dusting.
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven 180°C (Gas 4) and grease a 26cm-diameter cake tin. To make the sponge, beat the eggs and sugar together in an electric mixer for at least 10 minutes. Sift together the flour and baking powder then fold the dry ingredients gently into the egg mixture. Pour into the cake tin and bake for 25 minutes until the cake springs back when pressed gently in the middle. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Step 2
To make the cream filling; cut the vanilla pod in half lengthways and scrape out the seeds with the tip of a knife. Combine the vanilla seeds and cream in a small saucepan and heat gently. Just before it starts boiling, turn the heat off. In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, and cornflour together until pale and fluffy.
Step 3
Pour a third of the hot cream onto the egg mixture, whisking well. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and stir it into the remaining cream. Turn the heat back on. Whisk the mixture over a low heat and leave it to cool. Whip the double cream until very stiff, then fold it into the cooled vanilla cream.
Step 4
Cut the sponge cake into three layers and place the bottom piece on a serving plate. Spread half the cream over it, then add half the strawberries and half the destalked redcurrant. Add another layer of sponger, the rest of the cream and the rest of the prepared fruit. Cover with the last piece of sponge, dust with icing sugar and decorate with the reserved redcurrants on their stalks.