Simple Cinnamon Cake with Creamy Icing and Fresh Strawberries

We celebrated my gorgeous Hubby's birthday last week and I wanted to bake him a cake as I do every year. Now if you ask him what type of cake he wants he would have said chocolate but since he had a Nutella cake last year, I decided to bake a different cake. The recipe for the main cake is very simple, your usual "equal parts sugar, flour and butter cake" as my Mum calls it:-). I topped it up with some icing not because E is a big fan of cream but mainly because I've been trying to lose some weight (this is the story of my life really) so I really fancied something sweet and creamy. Add some fresh and frankly giant strawberries to it and you have strawberry and cream cake:-)

The whole thing turned out well and E really liked it and that is what matters most especially on his birthday:-)

Ps: I am going to try and use ounce and cup in my measurements as much as possible but bear with me as this is all new to me and I am not good with numbers anyway:-)

Ingredients:

• 175 g (6.1 ounce) self-rising Flour
• 175 g (6.1 ounce) Caster Sugar
• 175 g (6.1 ounce) Butter, room temperature
• 3 Eggs
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder
• a pinch of Salt

For Icing:

• 250 ml Double Cream
• 1 tbsp Icing Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180 C/ Gas mark 5/ 356 F
• Grease a baking tin lightly with butter and line with parchment paper.
• To make the cake, in a large bowl, whisk the sugar with softened butter using an electric mixer until white and light. Then add the flour gradually to mixture while still mixing.
• Add the eggs one by one to the mixture and continue mixing. Now add vanilla, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and mix well.
• Pour the mixture into baking tin and bake for 40-45 minutes until lightly brown on top.
• Leave the cake to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the tin. Set aside to cool.
• For the icing: Mix the cream with vanilla and sugar in a bowl, then cover the bowl with a cling film and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Whisk the cream mixture with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
• Cover the cake with icing and strawberries or other fresh berries before serving.