Strawberry and Elderflower Gateau

Ingredients

● 6 eggs
● 300g caster sugar
● 200g butter (melted and cooled)
● 200g plain flour
● Pinch of salt
● 150ml double cream
● 400g strawberries
● 5 tbsp strawberry jam
● 5 tbsp elderflower cordial

Equipment:

Tala Performance 23cm Sandwich Pan

Tala 30cm Whisk 

Tala Glass Mixing 

Tala Caster Sugar Tin 

Tala 30cm Round Cooling Rack 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Separate the eggs into a bowl of whites and a bowl of yolks. Add 200g of the caster sugar into the bowl of yolks and place in a bain-marie, whisk until the mixture has tripled in volume. Remove from the heat and continue to whisk until cooled.
3. Sift in the flour and salt and pour in the melted butter. Gently fold the ingredients together until combined.
4. Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form, and again, gently fold them into the other mixture until combined. Pour into a greased and lined 23cm tin (the tin you bake the cake in should be bigger than the one you assemble the gateau in) and bake for 30 minutes until golden.
5. Once baked, remove from the oven and brush half of the elderflower cordial over the cake whilst warm. Leave to cool on a cooling rack and make the whipped cream.
6. Whip the cream together with the remaining 100g caster sugar and elderflower cordial until soft peaks form.
7. Wash the strawberries and then cut off the hull and half them vertically.
8. Cut the sponge in half and, using a 20cm tin as an outline, cut off the edges of both cakes. Place one cake in the bottom of the 20cm loose-bottom deep tin. Spread over the strawberry jam and place the strawberries around the edge of the tin. Cut up the remainder of the strawberries and mix into the whipped cream (set aside a little bit of the whipped cream without the strawberries for the top), then fill the middle and up to the edges of the cake with this mixture.
9. Place the other cake on top. Add a few dollops of jam to the whipped cream mixture you set aside and spread this over the top of the cake. Using the loose bottom, pop the cake out of the tin and place on a cake stand.
10. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up before serving. Enjoy!