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1
Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Grease and flour 3 x 8 inch cake tins.
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2
Put the hulled and quartered strawberries in a small saucepan with 3.5oz sugar, 1 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tbsp water. Bring to the boil then simmer for 10 minutes.
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3
Drain any liquid and reserve. Blitz the cooked strawberries in a food processor or mini chopper until you have a smooth puree.
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4
Put all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, ground almonds, baking powder, soda & salt) in the bowl of your stand mixer. Mix together using the paddle attachment on low speed.
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5
Add the cubed butter and mix on medium-low speed until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
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6
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well with each addition. You may need to stop the mixer and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl a couple of times.
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7
Mix the buttermilk with 100g (3.5oz) of strawberry puree. Add the buttermilk/strawberry mixture and vanilla extract to the mixing bowl. Mix on low then high speed for a couple of minutes.
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8
Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to make sure the batter is completely smooth and divide it equally into the prepared tins.
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9
Bake for 25-30 minutes.The cakes are ready when springy to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
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10
Cool on a wire rack and then gently tap the cakes out of the tins. Make sure they are completely cool before frosting. Cakes can be made up to 2 days in advance and kept, wrapped, at room temperature.
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11
To fill and decorate:Put the powdered sugar, vanilla seeds, elderflower cordial and double cream in your stand mixer and whisk at high speed until you have firm peaks. Transfer the cream into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip.
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12
Brush the reserved strawberry liquid over the tops of the cakes.
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13
Pipe a wide ring of whipped cream all around the edge of the bottom cake layer and a large dot in the middle. Fill the space between the whipped cream with chopped strawberries. Repeat on second layer and top with the third.
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14
Pipe some cream on top of the cake then smooth it down to create a flat surface. Push any excess cream down the sides of the cake.
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15
Smooth the cream along the sides of the cake using a plain edge side scraper. You want to create a crumb coating but still be able to see the sponge underneath. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
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16
Decorate the top of the cake with whole strawberries (cut the top off so they lie down flat) and some edible flowers if you can find them.
