Strawberries and cream sponge layer cake

Method

1. 1 Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 (160°C for fan ovens).
2. 2 Butter 2 x 20cm round cake tins per cake being made, dust with flour and line with non-stick baking paper.
3. 3 Place the eggs, sugar, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Whisk with an electric beater for about 10 minutes, until very thick and pale and tripled in volume.
4. 4 Sift together the cornflour, flour and baking powder. Using a large metal spoon, quickly and gently fold the mixture into the batter (but make sure you don’t over-mix as the batter will deflate).
5. 5 Divide between the tins and bake for 20 minutes, or until the cake springs back when touched. Leave to cool on a rack.
6. 6 Softly whip the cream.
7. 7 Hull and chop 10 strawberries (per cake being made) into 1cm chunks and quarter the remaining ones.
8. 8 Sandwich the cakes together with some whipped cream and the chopped strawberries.
9. 9 Top with the remaining whipped cream, decorate with the quartered strawberries and dust with icing sugar.