If you’re looking for an easy but impressive cake to make for a summer party, then I’m your gal. Or I should say, Paul Hollywood is your man, as this is one of his recipes. You may remember what a fan I am of Paul Hollywood. Shall we remind ourselves what he looks like?

I should mention here that this cake doesn’t travel very well, I made it for a birthday party a few weeks ago that necessitated a half hour car journey, and well, let’s just say I was glad I had taken the photograph of it before the journey. It wasn’t too bad, but the fruit had mostly all rolled off the top, and didn’t look as good when I stacked it back up again because we lost the effect of the powdered sugar on top. If I’d thought, I’d have done that top part on arrival, so yeah, do that if you need to travel it.

The beauty of this cake is that because it’s so light and fruity, it doesn’t feel too naughty to eat, in fact if you try hard enough, you can convince yourself that it’s pretty much the same thing as eating a fruit salad.

Anyway, this is Paul Hollywood’s Summer Fruit Genoise recipe:

WHAT YOU NEED:

– 30g unsalted butter, melted
– 4 medium eggs
– 125g caster sugar
– 125g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
– Pinch of salt
– 300g strawberries, hulled and halved
– 2 tbsp icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
– 250ml whipping cream
– 250g blueberries
– 250g raspberries

WHAT YOU DO:

1. Heat your oven to 180°C/350F. Use a little of the melted butter to grease two 20cm sandwich tins. Dust them lightly inside with flour.

2. Put the eggs and sugar into a heatproof bowl and place over a pan of simmering water. Whisk, using an electric hand-held whisk, for at least 7 minutes until the mixture is trebled in bulk, very pale and thick enough to hold a trail when the beaters are lifted. Sift the flour and salt together over the mixture and fold in gently, keeping in as much air as you can. Finally, very carefully fold in the remaining melted butter.

3. Divide the mixture between the prepared sandwich tins and bake for 25 minutes until golden and slightly shrunk from the sides of the tin. Leave the sponges to cool slightly in the tins for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

4.Meanwhile, put 200g of the strawberries into a blender with 2 tbsp of icing sugar and blitz to a smooth purée. It should be intense and sweet; add a little more icing sugar if necessary.

5. Whip the cream until it holds soft peaks. Roughly fold in the strawberry purée, keeping the mixture rippled rather than a uniform pink.

6. Slice each sponge in half horizontally. Lay one of the sponges, cut side up, on a serving plate. Spread a third of the strawberry cream on top, then put a quarter of the blueberries and raspberries around the edge. Add a second layer of sponge and filling, then repeat to create the third layer. Place the final layer of sponge on the top and dust generously with icing sugar.

7. Arrange the remaining strawberries, blueberries and raspberries on top of the cake. Dust lightly with icing sugar and serve.

Thanks Paul, and happy summer eating everyone!