Strawberry Vodka Meringue Cake

Dear Daydream delicious...,

Please accept my sincerest apologies for the length of time I've been away from you. I offer, in way of an excuse, the incompetancies of British Telecom, who went out of their way to cancel our broadband connection and not show up on no less than 2 occasions. I know I should have found another way to be with you, my dear one, but to be honest the offerings I had for posts would have paled in comparison and would not have been worthy.

Please accept this strawberry meringue cake laced with vodka (I know how you like vodka) as a gesture of good will. I made one for you, dear Daydream delicious..., and the other as a house warming gift to my new kitchen. I can't wait for you to meet! You will get along so well and really, really enjoy working together. So much so, I think we should all meet up at least once a week from here on in!

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Much love, Bonnie

Strawberry Vodka Meringue Cake

1 punnet of strawberries
125mL vodka (to taste)
3 tablespoons demarerra sugar
3 egg whites
1 cup of castor sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 teaspoon white vinegar
50g ground almonds
Whipped cream

Hull the strawberries and slice in half. In a bowl mix the strawberries with the demarerra sugar and vodka. Cover and leave in the fridge.

Preheat oven to 160° Celsius. Prepare two 23cm cake tins by lining the base with grease proof paper and oiling the sides with sunflower or rapeseed oil. Whisk the egg whites until they begin to froth. Start to add the castor sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. The egg whites should be forming stiff peaks by this time. With the last tablespoon of sugar add the cornflour. Fold in the vanilla and vinegar until combined. Finally, fold in the ground almonds.

Divide the meringue between both cake tins and bake for 45 minutes. Leave to cool for 10 minutes then remove onto a wire rack to cool completely. Assemble the cake by placing half of the strawberries on the bottom layer, cover with cream and place the remaining strawberries on the cream. Top with the other cake. Serve with the remaining syrup drizzled over the cake.