Strawberry ripple loaf cake

Ingredients

200g Unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for 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

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas 4 Grease and line a 900g loaf tin, then whizz 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

Honeyed citrus & thyme vodka soda

If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, use a jam jar with a lid for this citrus and thyme vodka soda

Ingredients

2 tbsp Clear honey J uice of ½ lemon

Juice of ½ lime

75ml Vodka

1 large thyme sprig I ce cubes

150ml Soda water

Thyme sprigs and lemon and lime

Method

Mix the honey and 2 tbsp boiling water until fully dissolved, then allow to cool

Squeeze the lemon and lime juice into a cocktail shaker

Add the honey mixture, vodka, thyme sprig and ice cubes, then shake vigorously Strain into two glasses before topping up with the soda water.

Garnish with thyme sprigs and lemon and lime slices