Gallo olive oil cake with strawberries and cream

Ingredients:

Cake: 

(You will need to make two of these for a two-tier cake)

• 1½ cups (225g) cake flour
• 2 tsp (10ml) baking powder
• ½ tsp (3ml) fine salt
• 2 extra-large eggs
• ¾ cup (150g) castor sugar
• ½ cup (125ml) Gallo Classico extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp (5ml) vanilla essence or paste
• ½ cup (125g) plain double-cream yoghurt
• ¼ cup (60ml) juice and grated peel of 1 lemon
• ¾ cup (180ml) strawberry jam

Topping:

• 1 cup (250ml) cream
• ½ cup (75g) castor sugar
• 1 tsp (5ml) vanilla essence or vanilla bean paste
• Fresh strawberries and mint

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. 
2. Line the bottom of a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin with baking paper and spray tin with non-stick spray. 
3. Sift flour and baking powder together and add salt. 
4. Cream eggs and sugar together with a handheld mixer (or in a stand mixer) for 5-7 minutes until pale and fluffy and until sugar has dissolved completely. (Mixture should triple in size.)
5. Add olive oil in a thin stream while mixing until well combined. 
6. Stir in vanilla, yoghurt and lemon juice and zest.
7. Fold wet mixture into dry flour mixture using a metal spoon or spatula, mixing carefully until well combined. 
8. Pour batter into the prepared cake tin, pressing strawberries on top of cake, if using.
9. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. 
10. Cool in the tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then unmould and cool completely. 
11. Evenly cut off the top of one cake and spread with jam. (If only making one cake, you can simply slice cake in half and spread bottom layer with jam. )
12. Sandwich second cake on top. 
13. For topping, whisk cream, sugar and vanilla until well combined and cream is stiff .
14. Spoon cream on top of cake and decorate with strawberries and fresh mint just before serving.