I used Shipton Mill’s soft cake and pastry flour but soft flour gives the sponge good texture and it can take the syrup and carry the weight of tiers.
For the white chocolate shards, I used double the amount of chocolate needed because it is easier to work with and kept them in an air tight container for other desserts.
Ingredients
For the sponge
- 4 eggs
- 250g caster sugar
- 370g soft flour
- 20g baking powder
- 2 tbsp vanilla extract
For the syrup
- 250g granulated sugar
- 250g water
- ½ lemon, juice
For the Chantilly cream
- 750ml double cream
- 2 tbsp icing sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
For the white chocolate shards
- 120g white chocolate drops
- 1 tsp freeze dried strawberries, crushed
To finish
- 2 tbsp freeze dried strawberry powder, optional
- A punnet of strawberries
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 0 C.
Grease a 23cm cake tin with a loose bottom and dust with flour.
In a bowl, sift the flour and baking powder.
In another, large bowl, beat the eggs on a medium speed with an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add the sugar gradually while whisking all the time and finally the vanilla extract.
Add the flour to the egg mix in three stages, folding it in gently each time until it has all been incorporated. Empty the cake mix into the cake tin, tap it gently and use your spatula to push some of the mix away from the centre onto the sides. Bake in the lower part of the oven for 40-45 minutes or until a thin blade knife comes out clean.
While the cake is baking, make the chocolate chards.
Melt 90g of the while chocolate in a bowl over hot water. Remove it as soon as it has melted fully and add the remaining 30g of chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate has melted and continue stirring for a few more seconds to cool it a little. Empty onto the acetate sheet and spread it with a spatula. Sprinkle with the crushed freeze dried strawberries and leave it to cool enough before scoring the shapes you like. Try not to let it cool too much as it will snap as you try to score it. You will only know the right stage to score by trial and error but you can go over the same marks again so don’t worry if you score the chocolate too early. Once you have cut your desired shapes, leave the chocolate to cool completely and then gently bend the acetate to detach the triangles.
When the cake is baked, leave it in the tin to cool for 10 minutes and transfer onto a rack to cool completely. Use a serrated knife to cut in three horizontal slices.
To make the syrup, bring the water and sugar to boiling point and cook for a minute further. Add the lemon juice and spoon the warm syrup onto the cold cake slides.
Wash, pat dry and slice the strawberries, reserving a few to top the cake with.
Beat the Chantilly cream until it holds its shape. Transfer to a piping bag and keep cool. If you want to pipe some Chantilly on the top of the cake, use a pretty tip.
Put the first cake slice onto a cake plate. Pipe some Chantilly cream all over and use a spatula to flatten. Lay the strawberry slices on top. Repeat with the other two sponge slices and use Chantilly to cover the cake all round. Dust with the freeze dried strawberry powder and decorate with a mix of cut and whole strawberries and the chocolate shards.