This is a versatile recipe. The cake is a light genoise, which we sometimes split in half and filled with a honey or lemon flavored cheese. But more often we would fill it with whipped cream and homemade strawberry jam made from the Queen’s strawberries grown at Balmoral Castle.
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, for greasing
6 egg yolks
2 eggs
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla paste
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ stick (¼ cup) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup raspberry seedless jam
2 cups heavy cream, whipped stiff
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8 × 3-inch cake ring, and place a circle of parchment paper on the base. Grease the parchment paper.
2. Set a large mixing bowl over a pan of boiling water, and add the yolks, eggs, sugar, and vanilla paste to the bowl. (The bowl should be touching the water.) Whisk together until the mixture is combined. Whisk occasionally until the egg mixture starts to get hot. Remove the mixing bowl from the heat, and whisk with an electric mixer until the bowl becomes cold and the egg mixture has doubled in volume and is pale in color.
3. Sift the flour and add it to the egg mixture along with the melted butter, folding it in carefully by hand. Pour the mix into the prepared cake ring and bake for 20 minutes in the center of the oven, or until the top is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed.
4. Remove the cake sponge from the oven and invert it onto a cooling rack. Leave the sponge on the rack until it is cold. Remove the cake ring and parchment paper carefully, and slice the sponge into three horizontal layers. Spread the raspberry jam equally on the bottom two layers. Top these bottom two layers equally with the whipped cream. Place the middle layer carefully on top of the bottom layer. Finish by placing the top layer on the middle layer. Dust with the powdered sugar and serve.
MAKES 8 SERVINGS