Strawberry drizzle cake with clotted cream ice cream

I am such a cliché; it’s Wimbledon weekend so it has to be a strawberry cake!  This cake appealed to me for several reasons:

1. It’s really quick and easy to make
2. The way the strawberries sink into the cake during post-bake cooling leaving crispy edged cake batter in their wake
3. I have never seen a drizzle cake for anything other than a citrus fruit

This is not the cake for you if you want to produce something perfect-looking that will cut into clean patisserie-style slices.  If that’s your requirement, step away from this one!  I can say it because I made it: it looks a bit of a mess.  The weight of the fruit means it sinks a little as it cools; the strawberries become sticky and jammy and mean that the sponge gets juicy pockets in it and breaks when you cut it.  But if you can get past the looks...it delivers 10/10 on the deliciousness scale.

The sweet jam texture of the strawberries was an unexpected bonus – imagine the purest, most freshly made jam...and you’re getting there!  It was one of the loveliest textures I’ve come across in a cake for a long time.

Needless to say, but when you are making a simple cake like this it relies on the quality of the strawberries.  Tasteless strawberries will not become tasty just because they are baked.  I always think you should buy strawberries that have travelled the least distance, for me this means strawberries that speak with a Home Counties accent; I will seek out Jubilee or Elsanta varieties if I can as these seem reliably sweet.

I pushed the boat out in serving this cake with homemade clotted cream ice cream.  As sinfully delicious as it sounds – any ice cream that has the word ‘cream’ twice in its title has my full attention!  The cake would be lovely on its own, or with cream, but with ice cream it is an impressive summer dessert.  I dabble in ice cream but don’t post the recipes on my blog.  For this one I have made an exception!

Ingredients

For the cake:
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
200g golden caster sugar, plus 2 tablespoons extra for sprinkling
1 egg
120ml milk – whole or semi skimmed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
200g self raising flour
600g strawberries – washed, hulled and halved (take 6 and put them to one side for the icing)

For the icing:
6 strawberries – taken out of the 600g above
50g icing sugar, plus extra if needed

For the clotted cream ice cream:
2 eggs
125g caster sugar
454g clotted cream
250ml whole milk

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/fan oven 160C/350F/gas mark 4.

Line a 20cm round springform tin with baking paper.

Beat together the butter and sugar until well combined; it won’t go light and fluffy because of the ratios involved.

Beat in the egg and the milk.

Beat in the vanilla.

Fold in the flour.

Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and level the surface.

Arrange the strawberries, cut side down, over the batter.  I had to pile the strawberries on in two layers – it will seem like you have too many, but it will all be fine!

Sprinkle the two tablespoons of sugar over the top.

Bake for approximately 50 minutes – 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.  Mine took just over an hour.

Leave the cake to cool in the tin for approximately 15 minutes, before de-tinning and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.  Do not worry when you see the cake sinking as it cools – it does this!

While the cake is baking start making the icing glaze: chop the retained strawberries and sprinkle with one teaspoon of icing sugar.

Leave for approximately 15 minutes and then press the strawberries through a sieve to extract their juice.  As it’s a small amount of fruit the back of a spoon should do the job.

Take one tablespoon of the strawberry juice and mix with the icing sugar until smooth and thick.  If you need to add extra icing sugar or extra strawberry juice, do so.

Drizzle the icing over the cake and leave to set.

To make the ice cream: whisk the eggs until they become thick and frothy.  This will be quite noticeable so don’t stop before you see them become rich and velvety looking.

Gradually whisk in the sugar.

Add the clotted cream and milk and whisk well until the mix is well combined.

Chill in the fridge for at least two hours before churning in your ice cream machine per the manufacturer’s instructions.

NB. If you don’t have an ice cream machine simply spoon the mixture into a 2 litre tub and freeze for three hours.  Remove from the freezer, whisk until smooth, then refreeze for three hours.  Repeat this process a further three or four times before leaving to set for two hours and then serving.  The repetition of whisking is to break down any ice crystals and create that smooth texture which is so important.

Serve the cake in generous slices with cream, or ice cream for a summer dessert.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.