10-12 servings; 50 preparation; 3 hours waiting; 40 min cooking time.

It’s Monday again, so it’s time for a sweet start of the week. I cannot imagine a better way to celebrate than delicious vanilla with strawberries.

A poke cake is nothing else than a sponge cake with jello syrup. Although I like the original idea, I decided to go a slightly different way and experiment a bit. This cake has a lot of similarities with tres leches cake, since it’s “soaked” with a milk syrup. So let’s say it’s a combination of the two.

Since the syrup is thick, don’t hesitate to poke bigger holes in the cake.

Ingredients

for the vanilla-lemon sponge cake:

• 120 g all-purpose flour
• 70 g light brown sugar
• 10 g baking powder
• 5 g salt
• 1 tsp lemon essence or 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 4 eggs, separated
• 60 g milk
• 30 g mild olive oil or coconut oil

for the syrup:

• 400 g strawberries
• 350 g sweetened condensed milk
• 50 g coffee milk

for the topping:

• 250 g whipping cream
• 20 g white sugar
• 50 g nuts of your choice, chopped fine

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C/320 degrees F. Cover the bottom of a spring form with parchment paper and set aside.

For the sponge cake: Separate the egg whites from egg yolks. Beat the egg whites with the sugar until hard picks. Add the egg yolks one by one using a spatula. Try not to overbeat the mixture so the air stays inside.

Mix the milk, oil, vanilla and lemon essence. Add the milk mixture to the eggs.

Strain the dry ingredients and add them in three parts to the mixture. Use a spatula just to incorporate the dry ingredients, but don’t overdo it.

Transfer the mixture to the spring form. Tap the form on the kitchen countertop to remove any air bubbles. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 min or until the toothpick comes clean. Set aside to cool completely.

Strawberry-milk syrup: Remove the green parts from the strawberries. Put the fruit in the food processor or a blender and blend until smooth and liquid.

Add the two kinds of milk and mix until smooth.

Topping: Whip the cream with a little bit of sugar. Set aside.

Crush the nuts in a blender. Make them as fine as you prefer. Set aside.

Assembling the cake: Poke the whole cake with a fork or toothpick. Pour the syrup on top. Make sure that the whole surface of the cake is covered with the syrup. Cover with the whipped cream. Make it smooth or use a piping bag. Toss the crushed nuts on top.

Set in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight. Enjoy!