Clara Cooks

Strawberry and Cream Butter Sponge

This was a regular cake in my granny’s house when I was younger like so many other Irish houses. 

One of the simplest of cakes and one of the tastiest.  Myself and my niece made this together and then enjoyed it with the family later in the afternoon. This cake should be made and eaten on the day.

Ingredients

For the cake

• 125g baking butter 
• 175g castor sugar
• 3 large eggs, as fresh as possible (I used duck eggs for this recipe as we had a few extra this week)
• 175g plain flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• A few tablespoons of milk

Filling

• 1 punnet of fresh strawberries (You can use jam if you wish but I love mine this way and it has less sugar)
• A tablespoon of raw honey
• Whipped cream
• Cream and strawberries for the topping
• 2 x 7 inch (18cm) sponge cake tins

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C
2. Grease the tin with melted butter, dust with flour and line the base of each with a round of greaseproof paper. Cream the butter until light in colour and gradually add the castor sugar, (I do mine in 3 goes) beat until soft 
3. and light and quite pale in colour. 
4. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well between each one.
5. Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture.  Mix all together lightly 
6. Add the milk and mix again
7. Divide the mixture evenly between the 2 tins, hollowing it slightly in the centre. This will ensure they cook evenly all the way through. 
8. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until cooked – check with a skewer and if comes out clean then it’s ready to take out, if not put back in for another few minutes.
9. When the cake is baking wash the strawberries and remove the green stem. In a bowl mash with a fork and add the honey. Mix together and leave aside.
10. When cake is baked take it out and all to cool in the tin for 5 min then turn out onto a wired rack. I often just run a small knife around the edges to ensure it comes out smoothly. 
11. When fully cool, it’s ready to assemble.
12. Drain and excess liquid from the strawberries and place on one of the bases spreading across. As I said you can just use jam here if you wish.
13. Top with cream and then put on the second cake base. 
14. Put a few tablespoons of cream on top and spread it around the top of the cake.
15. Place halved strawberries around the sides. We also grated some delicious chocolate over the top for the extra bit of yumminess.