• 220 g (1¾ cups) cake flour or plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for dusting
• 180 g (¾ cup) sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 180 g (6 oz) butter, melted
• 185 ml (¾ cup) warm milk
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 800 g (1 lb 12 oz) strawberries
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 4 tablespoons icing (confectioners’) sugar
• 750 ml (3 cups) thick (double/heavy) cream

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4). Grease and flour a 22 cm (8½ inch) springform cake tin, or a bundt pan.

Put the flour and sugar in a bowl with 1 teaspoon of the baking powder. Mix in the butter and then stir in the milk. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and beat in well. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks, incorporating the rest of the baking powder when the eggs have started fluffing up. Fold the whites into the cake mixture.

Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for about 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean and the top is deep golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and leave to cool a bit before turning out onto a rack. When cool, slice the cake in half horizontally and put the bottom half on a large serving plate.

Clean the strawberries and hull them (leave a few unhulled, if you prefer to see them that way on top of the cake). Dice about half the strawberries and sprinkle with a little lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of the icing sugar. Whip the cream into stiff peaks with the remaining icing sugar. Mix the diced strawberries with about a third of the whipped cream and spoon over the bottom of the cake. Put the other half of the cake on top and thickly spoon the remaining cream over the top and side, then decorate with the rest of the strawberries. This is best eaten immediately. Any leftovers will keep for a day in the fridge.