Makes one 20cm (8in) cake
Prep 45 minutes plus cooling | Bake 30–35 minutes
oven 160°c (fan)/180°c/350°F/Gas Mark 4
Genoise sponges are the lightest type of cake you can make – they weigh almost nothing. A little bit tricky to do but follow the steps and you’ll be there in no time.
• 8 eggs
• 250g (9oz) caster (superfine) sugar
• 100g (31⁄2oz) butter, melted and cooled
• 200g (7oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
• 100g (31⁄2oz) summer berries – blackberries, raspberries, blackcurrants etc
• 350ml (12fl oz) double (heavy) cream
• 2 tbsp icing (confectioners) sugar
• 350g (12oz) summer berries
• 220g (8oz) blackcurrant preserve
• Electric hand mixer
• Silicone spatula
• 3 × 20cm (8in) sandwich tins (layer cake pans)
1 Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan)/180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line the bases of three 20cm (8in) sandwich tins. Check the shelves of the oven, positioning them in the bottom half, making sure you can get all 3 tins in at the same time.
2 Place the eggs and the caster sugar in a large bowl – it does need to be large as the mixture doubles in volume. Using an electric hand mixer begin to whisk the eggs and sugar. Keep whisking: they will turn pale and fluffy but it will take between 5 and 10 minutes. When it’s ready the mixture will have doubled in size and as the mixture drops back down from the whisk into the bowl it should fall in a ribbon and the trail will stay visible in the bowl. It takes a while to get to this stage, don’t give up – just keep whisking!
When whisking together the eggs and sugar you can speed things up a bit by placing the bowl on top of a pan of steaming water. It’s a bit of a balancing exercise but the heat helps them whisk up faster.
3 Ensure your butter is properly cooled – if it’s added red hot the cake mixture will instantly lose all of its volume and you’ll have a bowl of soup instead. Take a large spoonful of the cake mixture and add it to the cooled melted butter. Beat them together vigorously and add this back into the cake mix and fold in. Concentrate on the sides and base of the bowl to check the butter isn’t hiding in a pocket anywhere.
4 Now sift half of the flour into the cake mixture and fold in using a spatula, lifting and turning the mixture gently. Make sure you lift the mixture from the very bottom of the bowl. The flour tends to sit here and refuse to budge if you don’t keep your eye on it. Once pockets of flour aren’t showing up when you fold it sift in the remaining half of the flour and repeat the gentle folding in process.
5 Use two thirds of the cake mixture to fill 2 of the sandwich tins, leaving one third still in the bowl.
If a pocket of melted butter tricked you and came slooshing out with the cake mixture stir it gently in the tin with the end of a palette knife.
6 Lightly crush the berries for the cake in a small bowl with a fork and fold through the remaining mixture. Fill the final tin and bake straight away in the oven, two on the upper shelf and one just below.
7 After 30 minutes check the cakes – they should be golden on top and springy to the touch, with the sides of the cake shrinking away from the tin. The third cake on the lower shelf may need a further 5 minutes’ baking time.
8 Let the cakes cool in the tins for 5 minutes before removing and transferring carefully to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled it’s time for the assembly.
If you missed a spot when greasing the edge of the cake will grip to the side of the tin. Free it gently with a sharp knife as soon as it comes out of the oven.
9 Softly whip the double cream and icing sugar. Weigh out 150g (5½oz) of the fruit and place in a bowl, then lightly crush with a fork. Fold through the whipped cream to create a ripple effect.
10 Remove the paper from the base of each cake and select a serving plate. Place one of the plain sponge layers on the plate and top with a layer of blackcurrant preserve keeping it just shy of the edge of the cake. Either pipe on a layer of summer berry rippled cream or spread with a spatula.
11 Place the fruited cake layer on top and repeat with a layer of jam and cream. Top with the last plain sponge cake. Cover the top of the cake with the remaining cream in a thin, even layer.
12 Scatter the remaining 200g (7oz) of summer berries around the top of the cake. Serve.
The cream filling means that the cake should be stored in the fridge, so if it isn’t possible to assemble it at the last minute, allow the cake 20 minutes to stand at room temperature before serving.