A few years back I forgot about Mark’s birthdays. I was stuck in the house, with no car and no gift. I wasn’t a happy puppy. Mark was working late, so I thought to myself “Lets bake a Special Birthday Cake”. I still had lots of time, as he was not due to return for another 5 hours. I took some cookbooks and started my search. Unfortunately all the recipes which I liked where either to hard for me to make or they required ingredients which I did not have. I went with option B. I took a basic recipe for a sponge cake, which I learnt ages ago while in elementary school and decided to make a twist on it. This was the result.

FOR THE WHITE CAKE

4 eggs, separated

1 tbsp caster sugar

5 tbsp plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

FOR THE DARK CAKE

4 eggs, separated

1 tbsp caster sugar

5 tbsp plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp cocoa powder or drinking chocolate

FOR THE DRIZZLING SYRUP

50ml boiling water

2 tsp caster sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

A good dash of vodka – can be flavoured (I am Polish after all)

FOR THE FILLING

1 60g pack of Vanilla Budyn* (Polish confectioner’s custard) or make your own, making sure it is set and not runny

Half 450g jar of strawberry conserve

FOR DECORATION

500g strawberries cut into slices

1-2 kiwi fruits, sliced

2 x 135g packs of strawberry jelly

*Vanilla Budyn is available from most supermarkets in the Polish food section.

1 Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4 and grease 2 (23cm / 9”) cake tins

2 Make the dark and the white cakes. Whisk the egg whites (using an electric mixer and/or hand mixer) until peaks form and slowly add the sugar while still beating. Then add the egg yokes still beating, but on slow.

3 Add the flour and baking powder and fold in gently (for the dark cake add the cocoa or chocolate here).

4 Pour the mixture into the prepared baking tins and bake for about 40 minutes or until firm and springy to the touch.

5 While the cake is cooking make the syrup. Place the boiling water into a jug and add the caster sugar, stir until dissolved. Add the lemon juice, a good dash of vodka and stir. Set aside to cool down

6 To make the filling, follow the instructions on the pack of the custard (Vanila Budyn), put aside and allow to set.

7 Once the cakes are baked and have cooled completely with a large knife cut off the peaks so you are left with flat tops on both cakes which will be easy to stack. Cut each cake into 2 thin cakes so that you have 4 pieces of flat cake. You will only need 3 pieces to build your final cake so if you break one during trimming or cutting you can still make the cake!

8 Drizzle each piece with the syrup and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.

9 Now start assembling your cake. Place the first piece of cake back into the baking tin, spread a generous layer of strawberry conserve on top and lay the middle cake, in a different colour, on top of that. Put a layer of custard over the top, followed by a layer of sliced strawberries and top with the final piece of cake. Once you have finished assembling, you can arrange the fruits on top.

10 Finally prepare 2 packs of strawberry jelly as per instructions. Allow to cool, but not set – the jelly needs to be pourable! When cool, pour all over the cake until the cake tin is full. Place in fridge for a few hours to fully set.

Mark loved it and my forgetting his birthday went without notice, good rescue hey!