Erin Fox
A bouquet of roses and champagne with strawberries make the perfect treat for St Valentine’s Day. You can hit three birds with one stone by baking this strawberry and champagne sponge decorated with royal icing roses. For an alcohol free version, just omit the champagne from the buttercream.
- 275g self-raising flour
- 275g unsalted butter
- 275g golden caster sugar
- 5 eggs lightly beaten
- one vanilla pod cut in half with the seed scraped out
- 3 x 7inch heart shaped sandwich tins greased and lined with baking parchment. (If you only have two, pour the remaining batter into a tin as soon as one comes free.)
Buttercream
- 250g unsalted butter
- 300g icing sugar sifted
- 4 tbsp strawberry jam
- 4 tbsp champagne or medium dry cava
For the roses
- 1 egg white
- 250g icing sugar
- squeeze of lemon juice
- a little water
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Sift flour into a bowl. Beat the butter and sugar with the vanilla seeds for five minutes until light and fluffy. Add a tablespoon of flour to the butter and eggs and gradually add the eggs a little bit at a time while beating the mixture. Fold in the rest of the flour and divide the batter into three equal portions. Spoon the batter into the prepared tins and bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes until golden and springy on top or when a wooden skewer emerges clean. Transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool.
Wrap the cakes in cling film when cooled and give them a spell in the fridge for an hour so they are easier to trim.
Meanwhile make the buttercream. Beat the butter with the icing sugar for five minutes until pale and fluffy. Add the jam and beat again until combined. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the champagne.
Remove the cakes from the fridge and trim off the tops. Spread a layer of buttercream across one and stack another sponge on top. Repeat and then smooth the buttercream all over the sides and top of the cake. This will be the crumb layer. Smooth with a palette knife and give the cake another spell in the fridge for one hour. Remove and give the cake another coating of buttercream.
For the royal icing, beat the egg white, lemon juice and sugar at a high speed for five minutes until thick. Add a little water to loosen up and beat for another two minutes. Take care not to add too much water or the icing will be too runny to pipe with. Divide the icing into two batches and colour one pink or red and one green.
Fill a piping bag with the red icing and make a small diagonal cut at the tip. Pipe swirly roses around the perimeter of the cake. With the green icing, pipe leaves on either side of the roses.