Easy Peasy Strawberry Pound Cake

Ingredients
For the cake:
  • 230g of butter (salted or unsalted, makes no difference)
  • 230g of granulated sugar
  • 230g of almond flour or finely ground almonds
  • 5 eggs
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 3-4 tsp vanilla essence
  • 2 handfuls strawberries
For the strawberry cream icing:
  • 60g butter
  • 100g icing sugar
  • 1 handful strawberries
And more strawberries to top. I can't tell you how many, it depends on the size of the berries and the width of your cake/what tin you used. Just slice them up as you go and use as many as you need.

The measurements for the strawberries are a bit vague, but I didn't weigh them and this recipe doesn't require much accuracy. ;)

Instructions
I never usually make cakes because I find them such a hassle and so messy. But this one is ridiculously easy! If you want an even easer job, leave off the icing and sliced strawberry topping, it's good without. :)

The trick here is to use strawberries that are really soft and ripe in the cake and icing. It sounds disgusting - but those ones you forgot about in the fridge that would be inedible if you left them one more day work best (not mouldy though! Just soft). For the sliced berries on top, use fresher ones.

Preheat the oven to 170°c.

Cream the butter and sugar together thoroughly. Don't attempt this with hard butter - soften it in the microwave for 5 second intervals until it's soft. Be careful, don't liquidise it!!

Crack one egg into the centre of the mixture at a time and beat well.

Mix the baking powder and almond flour. Add a little to the egg/butter/sugar mixture at a time, beating as you go.

Add in the vanilla and mix. Slice up 2 handfuls of your very ripe strawberries and stir into the mix.

Pour into a greased cake tin that is 9" wide and 2" deep. (Or something around those proportions. It's important to use a wide, shallow tin or you'll have raw cake in the middle.)

Stick it in the oven and watch TV with the dog/boyfriend for around 50 minutes. If you see the top getting too brown too fast, turn the heat down a little. Before you remove from the oven, stick a skewer into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, remove. If not, leave it in for a few more minutes. Only remove the cake from the tin when it's cool.

For the icing:
Cream together the butter and sugar.

Slice up 1 handful of very ripe strawberries, add them in. Use a hand blender to make the mixture smooth and velvety. If it looks too runny or wet, add more icing sugar.

It doesn't sound like much icing, but you only want a thin layer as pound cake is quite heavy. Smooth the icing onto the surface of the cake once it is totally cooled.

Finally, slice up fresh, firm strawberries and arrange them as you'd like on the cake. Then eat it all.