Strawberries and cream cake

Is anyone else gutted that James didn't win the Great British Bake Off?? James, you were my favourite. So to keep in theme with the baking, I've given some pointers on how (I do this) to channel your inner baker. This doing the following:

- Think about food all of the time.

- Think about baking food all of the time.

- Think about scoffing, ahem, 'taste checking' all of that food you've just baked. All the time.

- Write a food blog...? ...Nope, just me? Am I alone on this one?

So I was googling around to provide you guys with an interesting fact about Strawberries. They weren't very interesting. So somehow, I ended up finding myself googling 'anyone died eating strawberries?', and wooooaaahhh, revelation!

******

No, you can't die from eating too many strawberries. What did you think I was going to say? :-)

Also, I know summer's gone, but I'm desperately clinging on to what's left of summer (what is left of summer?)! Think of it as a light alternative to those big winter roasts you will be having =)
 

Last weekend a friend very generously invited a bunch of people and I over for Sunday lunch. The plan was to eat until stuffed, wait a bit, eat a bit more, wait a bit, eat a bit more, wait a bit... (you get the gist). So naturally I announced I was going to make a cake to add to the festivities! 

With the amount of food we had (we cooked for about 10, even though there were about 6 of us eating...error? Yes, but a yummy one!), it was like Christmas had come early =)

Lastly, some tips:

• This cake is quite dense, I'd even go as far as to say its cheescakey. So maybe cut the cream content in the cake a bit.
• Don't overwhip the cream! And also don't ice the cake with the cream until the cake is cold... for obvious reasons... (apparently not obvious enough for me, hm)

Have a good week!

Strawberries and cream cake Adapted from ‘Eton Mess Cake’ from BBC Good Food 175g unsalted butter 5 tbsp double cream , from a 300ml pot 1 tsp vanilla paste or extract 225g plain flour 100g ground almonds 1 tsp baking powder 200g golden caster sugar 5 large eggs , at room temperature 400g strawberries ,½ roughly chopped, ½ finely sliced Grease a deep, 20 x 30cm traybake or roasting tin, then line with parchment. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Melt the butter, take off the heat and stir in the cream and the vanilla. Mix the flour, almonds, baking powder and ¼ tsp fine salt and set aside for later. Put the caster sugar and eggs into a large bowl, and whisk with electric beaters until very thick and foamy, about 5 mins. Pour in the butter mix, whisk briefly, then add the flour mix and whisk briefly again until even. Stir in the chopped strawberries, then pour the batter into the tin and level the top. Scatter the sliced strawberries and meringue over the cake, then bake for 40-45 mins until risen, golden and a skewer comes out clean. When its completely cooled, whip the remaining cream and dollop around the cake. Place strawberries on top.