Roasted strawberries

1. Preheat your oven to 160C/320F and toss the strawberries, sugar and vanilla seeds into a baking dish.
2. Stir together and ensure the strawberries are in a nice evenly layer in your baking dish (we don’t them to be too piled together).
3. Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes, removing and stirring every 20 minutes. (See FAQ’s for more details).
4. Remove and set aside to cool completely.

Lemon sponge cakes

1. Preheat your oven to 180C/350F and line the bases of two cake tins with greaseproof paper.
2. Place the sugar and lemon zest into a bowl and rub together to coat the zest thoroughly with sugar and draw out the oils in the peel.
3. Add the butter and eggs and beat until pale and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes with an electric beater.
4. Add the flour and baking powder to your mixture and beat on low until just combined.
5. Pour evenly into the cake tins and spread out evenly.
6. Place in the oven until golden, approximately 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
7. Remove and allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning onto a cooling rack.

Chamomile Swiss meringue buttercream

1. For the buttercream, place a small saucepan on low heat with enough water not to touch the base of a heatproof bowl.
2. Place the egg whites and sugar into the bowl and put over the simmering water.
3. Beat on low until your egg whites reach 73C/165F (if you don’t have a thermometer, the best test is to put a clean finger into the egg whites and you feel no sugar granules between your finger or can’t keep your finger in the mixture for more than 3 seconds).
4. Remove the egg whites from the heat and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
5. Beat on medium speed with a whisk attachment until stiff and the bowl is tepid to the touch.
6. Toss in all the cubed butter and whisk on the lowest setting to incorporate, approximately 3 minutes.
7. Increase the speed to medium and beat until your buttercream is smooth, approximately 10 minutes.
8. Add in the vanilla extract, salt and chamomile tea and beat for a further 2 minutes until smooth.

Assembly

1. To assemble your cake, place your base cake layer onto a plate and evenly spread a portion of the buttercream on top and smooth out to a 1/4 inch thickness with a rim of buttercream.
2. Spoon the roasted strawberries evenly into the center of the cake.
3. Lay the second layer on top and press down lightly to ensure the layers are evenly stacked.
4. Place approximately 6 tablespoons of the buttercream on the cake and smooth out over the entire surface to form your crumb coating.
5. Smooth out and ensure you do not mix the crumb coating portion into the remaining buttercream.
6. Place the cake into the fridge to set for 30 minutes or set at a cool room temperature for 1 hour.
7. Finish with the remaining Swiss meringue buttercream, decorating how you prefer.
8. Serve up and slice.
9. Dig in!