Donal Skehan: Strawberry and elderflower cake

Although elderflower has a short season, elderflower cordial is a perfect pantry ingredient that bottles the essence of summer and allows you to savour the flavour long after the last flower has fallen.

Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line two 21cm springform tins.

In a standalone mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Then beat in the eggs one by one before adding the vanilla extract.

Using a spatula, fold in the flour until you have a smooth mixture. Use a little bit of the milk if you need to loosen the mixture. You want the mixture to be a bit loose.

Divide the mixture into the two springform tins, flatten the top with a spatula if needed. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until it’s nice and golden.

When the bases are cooked, take them out and let cool for a few minutes before you take it out of the tin to cool completely. Pierce the top of each sponge with a stick and pour over half the elderflower cordial on each sponge and let it sit and soak.

While the bases are cooling, prepare the filling by whipping the double cream and elderflower cordial together.

To assemble the cake, spread some strawberry jam on one of the bases before topping with cream, then add the second base and sprinkle with icing sugar and top with some strawberries.