Strawberry Sponge Cake

For her birthday, I made my daughter a sponge cake with strawberry sauce and fresh strawberries topped with strawberry whip cream. It is a riff on strawberry shortcake, which is a favourite of hers.

Here is the sponge recipe:

4 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Beat egg yolks until thick and lemon-coloured. Gradually add the 1/3 cup of sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Set aside.

4 egg whites
1/2 sugar

Wash the beaters thoroughly. Whip egg whites until soft peaks form. Slowly add the 1/2 cup sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold yolks into whites. I just use the whisk attachment for my mixer.

1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix try ingredients together and sprinkle over egg mixture, folding in gently. Put parchment paper in the bottoms of two layer cake pans (I used my heart pans). Divide the batter evenly between the pans and smooth the batter out. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes or until done. Cool.

Strawberry Sauce

1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. cornstarch
1/3 cup water
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 cups thawed frozen strawberries (puréed)

Combine sugar and cornstarch in a pot. Stir in water and lemon juice. Cook over medium, stirring until mixture thickens, comes to a boil and becomes clear. Add berry purée and cook until thickened. Cool.

Spread the strawberry sauce over one half of the cake. Top this with sliced, fresh strawberries. Apply another layer of strawberry sauce. Add the second cake layer. Top with whipped cream to which a bit of strawberry sauce has been added for flavour and colour.