Sponge In Strawberry Meringue Layer Cake

Our answer

Nigella's Strawberry Meringue Layer Cake (from NIGELLA SUMMER) is a cross between a sponge cake and a pavlova. Two layers of thin sponge cake are topped with meringue before baking and the layers are sandwiched with strawberries and whipped cream after baking and cooling.

The cake batter is pretty close to a standard sponge recipe but made with just egg yolks, which should make them fairly rich. They should not be too dry but you could reduce the plain (all-purpose) flour slightly to 100g (3/4 cup) as this is the quantity used for Nigella's Lemon Meringue Cake. However with the extra weight of the strawberries there is a slight risk that with less flour the cake layers will be slightly more fragile and may crack slightly as you assemble the cake. Also please note that the 200c temperature given in the recipe is for a regular oven and if you have a fan or convection oven then you may need to reduce the baking temperature (usually by 20c) and this may also help to prevent the sponge layer from drying out during baking.