Strawberry ice-cream cake

When I was seven, my mother got me an ice-cream cake for my birthday. It was the first in our class and all my friends were envious and wanted to bash me. If I had been interested in girls back then, I like to think it was akin to driving a flash car, but I can’t recall how they reacted. I was too busy gloating and eating cake.

This recipe makes the easiest birthday cake known to man. The strawberries are at their best right now, so who can resist strawberries and cream with a lot of meringue squished in? We also have some wild strawberry plants in the garden – fraises du bois – that I scatter on top.

We had this cake at Christmas, made with mulled fruit, and the hot and cold contrast was stunning. Sometimes I whip a little lemon curd through the cream (shop bought is fine) – or, for kiddies, hot chocolate sauce.

Have a 900ml plastic pudding basin or similar sized bowl at the ready and lightly oil it. Whip the cream in a large bowl until soft peaks form, then fold in the icing sugar and vanilla. Break each meringue shell roughly into three pieces and add to the bowl. Stir just enough to mix.

Fill the pudding basin with the meringue mixture to the brim. Cover with cling film and freeze overnight. Cut the strawberries in half, and if they are not sweet enough, dust them with another spoonful of icing sugar, then scatter them over the cake in a pretty fashion. These are also great made in individual moulds.