I love tennis and Wimbledon is the No.1 tournament for me. Probably because I would spend 2 weeks during the Irish summer glued to the TV watching my favourite players, Stefan Edberg and Martina Navratilova try to make it into the finals. Unfortunately I have never been even while I lived in London. I attend the Australian Open here in Melbourne every January and was lucky enough to see Serena Williams win in 2005 and the magnificent Roger Federer win in 2006 at Rod Laver Arena. One day I will make it to SW18 and eat Strawberries & Cream!

Cake:

400g Unsalted Butter

400g Caster Sugar

1 teasp Vanilla Extract

8 Eggs

400g Self Raising Flour

Red Food Colouring

Frosting:

120g Icing Sugar

400g Unsalted Butter

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Decoration:

2 punnets Strawberries

300g Strawberry Jam

Method:

Grease and line 4x8" cake tins with baking paper. Set aside. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla essence together in an electric mixer with the paddle attachment for about 6 minutes.

Stop the machine and scrape down the edges of the bowl.

Add the eggs and sieved flour bit by bit until just combined.

Add a few drops of red food colouring in the cake mix and fold through. Place 400g of the cake mix into the first cake tin. Add a few more drops of food colouring to the remaining cake mixture and fold through. Place 400g of the cake mix into the second cake tin. Repeat this process until you have 4 different shades of pink cake mixture in their respective tins.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool in the cake tins for a few minutes before removing the cake from the tins and allowing to fully cool on a wire rack.

Make the frosting by creaming the icing sugar, unsalted butter and vanilla extract in an electric mixer with the paddle attachment for about 10 minutes. The longer you beat the frosting the lighter and fluffier it will be.

Assemble the cake by placing the darkest pink cake on a cake stand and spread with some of the hot strawberry jam. Repeat this process ensuring the lightest pink cake is on the top of the cake stack. Cover the top and sides of the cake with the vanilla frosting.

Slice the strawberries and arrange them on top of the cake. Dust with icing sugar. The icing sugar will melt after a few moments and give the strawberries a glossy finish.