Strawberry almond cake

I bought a small wooden crate full of beautiful strawberries from the greengrocers the other day, and the shiny red juicy fruit inspired me to whip up this cake - it's incredibly quick to do, but utterly delicious!  The strawberries are pushed into the cake batter with their noses pointing upwards before baking, but when it comes out of the oven they have become completely submerged as the cake has risen, so it's a strawberry surprise when you cut into it.  This has all the flavours of British summer - Eton mess, Victoria sponge, strawberries and cream - and brings a bit of sunshine even to rainy spring days like these.

Ingredients

6 oz margarine

6 oz caster sugar

3 eggs

2 fl. oz sunflower oil

1 tsp vanilla essence

½ tsp almond essence

6 oz self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 oz ground almonds

3 oz fresh strawberries

1 oz flaked almonds

2 tbsp golden caster sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C.  Grease and line a 9 inch round cake tin.
2. In a large mixing bowl cream the margarine and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
3. In a separate bowl or jug, beat the eggs, oil, vanilla and almond essence.
4. Add the egg mixture to the butter and sugar mixture and beat well.
5. Sift in the flour, baking powder and ground almonds and beat until combined.
6. Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin.
7. Slice the ends off the strawberries and arrange them sliced end down in the cake tin, pressing them in completely.
8. Sprinkle with flaked almonds and golden caster sugar.
9. Bake for about 25-30 mins until springy when gently touched and a cake tester comes out clean.  Leave to cool slightly on a wire rack before cutting to serve warm.