Roasted Strawberry Balsamic Victoria Sponge
A beautiful 2 layer cake with layers of cream, strawberries and blasamic glaze. One gorgeous cake that you don't want to miss out on.
Ingredients
Cake:
- 4 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk
- 225 g sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 225 g self raising flour
- 225 g of butter melted but cool
Roasted Strawberries:
- 500 g of strawberries (extra strawberries if you want to garnish with fresh strawberries)
- 3 tablespoons of caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Balsamic glaze:
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
Whipped cream:
- 350 ml of cream
- 1½ tablespoons of icing sugar
Instructions
Sponge Cake:
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Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees F).
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Line a cake tin with butter, then baking paper.
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Fill a medium sized pot a quarter of the way up with water, and bring it to a very light simmer.
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Put your eggs, egg yolk, sugar, salt, lemon juice and vanilla in a large heat proof mixing bowl.
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Place the bowl over the lightly simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the simmering water, and start beating with an electric beater until the mixture is warm (usually takes 2-3 minutes).
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Take the warm egg mixture off of the pot of water and continue beating until the mixture has tripled in volume.
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Sift in the self raising flour, then gently fold.
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Add the melted butter and once again, gently fold through.
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Pour mixture in lined cake tin, bake for 35 minutes. Test with skewer.
Roasted Strawberries:
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Mix the strawberries, sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl, add to a lined, deep baking tray and bake for 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees F).
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Once the Strawberries are roasted, put half of them in a blender and blitz until smooth.
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Put the roasted strawberry coulis in a bowl, add the other half of your roasted strawberries and mix though the coulis.
Balsamic Glaze:
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Place the balsamic vinegar in a small pot, then bring to a boil. Reduce the vinegar by half (until nice and thick and can easily coat the back of a spoon). Set aside and let the balsamic glaze cool.
Cream:
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Put the cream and the icing sugar in a bowl, then beat together until the cream is thick and smooth (be careful not to over beat).
Garnish:
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Extra fresh strawberries (optional)
Assembly:
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Once the cake has cooled, carefully use a bread knife to cut the cake in half to create 2 layers.
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Place half of the whipped cream on top of the first half of your cake, place half your roasted strawberries on top evenly, drizzle over the balsamic glaze.
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Neatly place the second layer of cake on top, put the next layer of cream on top and finally, finish the cake with a layer of the rest of your roasted strawberries.
Recipe Notes
- When you put the mixing bowl with the whipped egg mixture over the water bath. Make sure the bowl isn't touching the water.
- When it comes to choosing the bowl you're going to use to put over the water bath to beat the egg mixture, try to go for a thick glass bowl or a tile bowl rather than a metal bowl. Metal heats up quite quickly, but if a metal bowl is all you have, just be extra careful and the egg mixture will be fine.
- I recommend using an electric beater to beat the egg mixture.
- Before halving the cake, make a straight incision along the cake to help guide you where you want to cut.
- Use a bread knife to cut the cake in half and don't push as you're cutting. Let the knife do the work.
- Whip the cream so that it's thick but still smooth. Don't over whip the cream.
- Roast the strawberries to where they are tender but not too soft. So that they still have some texture.
- Let the strawberries cool before putting them on the cake.
- Reduce the balsamic vinegar by half and then let it cool before drizzling on the cake.
- Work on the garnish as much as you like, dust some icing sugar, garnish with extra fresh berries or edible flowers etc.
- Feel free to freeze the sponge if you want to make this cake in advance. Wrap the cake in cling film before storing in the fridge.