Cake House

Ingredients
225 g unsalted butter (at room temperature) , plus extra for greasing
225 g white caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large free-range eggs
225 g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 splash of milk
FILLING
200 ml double cream
1 vanilla pod
1½ tablespoon of icing sugar , plus extra for dusting
250 g fresh strawberries

Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas 4. Grease and line the bases of 2 round 20cm sandwich tins.
Cube up the butter, then cream together with the sugar in a large mixing bowl until pale and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla extract.
Beat the eggs, then gradually mix into the creamed butter and sugar. Sift, then fold in the flour, baking powder and ¼ of a teaspoon of sea salt with a large metal spoon until just incorporated (don’t overmix).
Stir in 1 splash of milk to loosen the batter, then evenly divide it between the 2 cake tins.
Bake the cakes in the oven for 22 to 25 minutes, or until golden and cooked through. To test, insert a skewer into the middle of a cake; it’s ready when the skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Once completely cool, pour the cream into a large bowl, scrape in the vanilla seeds and whisk until you have soft peaks.
Sift in icing sugar and gently fold through. Place one of the cakes on your chosen plate or cake stand and spread over the vanilla cream, but not right to the edges or it will spill later.
Hull and roughly slice the strawberries, then scatter on top of the second cake. Dust with icing sugar and decorate with extra strawberries, if you like.

Ingredients
200 g ready-made madeira sponge
100 ml sweet sherry
100 g amaretti biscuits
300 g brambles
300 ml double cream
CUSTARD
500 ml milk
150 ml double cream
8 large free-range egg yolks
75 g sugar
1 heaped tablespoon cornflour

Method
For the custard, pour the milk and cream into a saucepan and place over a medium heat.
Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour together until smooth.
As soon as the milk mixture starts to bubble at the edges, pour it into the egg yolk mix, whisking all the time.
Return the mix to the saucepan and place it back over the heat. Using a spatula, stir the custard until it thickens, then remove from the heat and pour into a clean bowl.
Cover with greaseproof paper and set aside to cool completely.
Break the sponge into chunks and layer over the base of a glass trifle dish. Splash on the sherry and let the cake soak it up.
Crumble three-quarters of the amaretti biscuits over the sponge, then cover with the brambles, saving the best-looking ones (about a third) for the top. Spoon the cooled custard over the top and smooth out as best you can.
Whip the double cream to soft peaks, then spoon it over the custard and smooth out. Decorate the trifle with the rest of the brambles, then put in the fridge for 3 hours to set.
Just before serving, crumble the rest of the amaretti over the trifle.
To serve, scoop big spoonfuls into bowls, making sure you reach the bottom, so every serving has a mix of all the layers.