Eton mess cake

Cuts into 15 pieces Cook 40- 45 mins Prep 25 mins

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, 1/2 roughly chopped, 1/2 finely sliced 4 meringue nests (50g), very roughly broken up a little icing sugar, to serve

1 Grease a deep, 20cm 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 vanilla. Mix the flour, almonds, baking powder and 1/4 tsp fine salt and set aside.

2 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.

3 Scatter the sliced strawberries and meringue over the cake, then bake for 40- 45 mins until risen, golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool for 20 mins in the tin, then transfer the cake to a wire rack. Just before serving, dust with a little icing sugar. Enjoy with the rest of the double cream, whipped, if you like.

PER SERVING

306 kcals, fat 18g, saturates 9g, carbs 31g, sugars 20g, fibre 1g, protein 6g, salt 0.1g