Strawberry ripple loaf cake
Ingredients
Method
200g Unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for
Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas 4 Grease and line a 900g loaf tin, then whizz
greasing 227g pack Strawberries 200g Caster sugar 4 Eggs 200g Self raising white flour, plus 1 tbsp 1 tsp Vanilla paste 25g Ground almonds Drop of red or pink food colouring gel 1 tbsp Whole milk For the icing 75g Soft cheese, softened 50g Unsalted butter, softened 100g Icing sugar 1 tspVvanilla paste For the syrup 40g Icing sugar Juice of ½ lemon 1 tbsp Strawberry jam
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100g of the strawberries into a purée Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy Mix in the eggs, one at a time, spooning in a little flour after each addition to prevent curdling Add the rest of the 200g flour, the vanilla and almonds, then beat until smooth Put half the batter into another bowl and mix in the strawberry purée, the extra 1 tbsp flour and a drop of food colouring Mix the milk into the plain batter Dollop the two batters alternately into the prepared baking tin, then gently swirl together Bake for 1 hour, until risen and golden and a skewer comes out clean Leave the cake to cool in the tin For the icing, beat together the soft cheese and butter until smooth Stir in the icing sugar a little at a time, followed by the vanilla paste, until you have a thick, creamy mixture Spread this over the cooled cake, then top with the remaining strawberries, halved, to decorate Mix together the syrup ingredients and spoon over the cake If there’s any left, serve in a jug on the side
