Swedish Midsommar! Blue skies, flower crowns, white dresses, smorgasboards and strawberries! Doesn’t that sound gorgeous? Especially when those strawberries are part of this light, luscious cake!

It’s simple, and utterly perfect. Two light layers of a simple sponge cake, slathered in sweetened whipped cream and filled and topped with juicy, bursting, redder than red strawberries.

What’s great about this cake is that it’s such a crowd-pleaser. I mean, there’s a reason that every Swede knows this Midsommar classic! I have a theory that this amount of whipped cream could make pretty much anything into a celebration – but that’s neither here nor there.

The point is that the flutteringly light cake, with that kiss of lush cream and those juicy, juicy berries is transcendent. It tastes of pure, simple summertime and happiness. Close your eyes and you can see a meadow full of wildflowers and butterflies and lazy clouds and beams of sunlight, can’t you? I can.

The cakes come together in a stand mixer with ease – first, whisk four egg whites with a pinch of salt to stiff peaks, and then scrape them into another bowl. Then, whisk the yolks with some sugar, vanilla and a splash of water until they’re pale and voluminous.

Fold through the egg whites, then some flour, and then divide between two tins and bake until they’re golden brown. So far, so simple.

Take about a pound (500g) strawberries, and slice them up, saving the very cutest ones for the top of the cake. Toss the sliced berries with a few spoonfuls of sugar and a tiny squeeze of lemon juice, if you have it (rosewater is lovely too).

The cream needs to be whipped juuuuust to stiff peaks. If you go too far, you’ll get butter, which you don’t want. So watch that cream like a hawk, and don’t forget to add a little sugar, and a splash of vanilla too.

Assembling this cake is the most fun! Because it’s whipped cream, and it’s big and blowsy and there are strawberries everywhere! Word to the wise, if your berries have given off a lot of juice, try to strain it away before you pile them on, otherwise you may have a very messy cake. Also, you should definitely slurp those juices up with a spoon, because they’re SO DELICIOUS. Like some sort of pixie elixir.

The whipped cream is never going to be that smooth, unless you’re some sort of cake-wizard which I am not. Anyway, the point of this cake is that it’s homey. It wants to look organic and ramshackle.

It’s like a beautiful old farm building. In fact, this cake would look absolutely gorgeous just dotted with some edible flowers if you happen to have any.

Once you’ve had the time of your life stacking and filling and decorating this cake, the only thing left to do is eat it! A big, healthy-sized slice for each person (and I mean healthy-sized as in large, not as in weight-watchers) is the ticket, and a glass of sparkling rosé alongside would be suitably celebratory. OH – and if you happen to have any sweet strawberry juice leftover, add it to your glass.

So cheers! Here’s to big cakes, and celebration and starting the week off right! Hope you have a great one.

xx Sarah.