Strawberry ripple loaf cake

Ingredients

• 200g Co-op unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
• 227g pack Co-op British strawberries
• 200g Fairtrade caster sugar
• 4 Co-op British free range eggs
• 200g Co-op self raising white flour, plus 1 tbsp
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 25g Co-op ground almonds
• Drop of vegetarian red or pink food colouring gel
• 1 tbsp Co-op whole milk

Method       

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas 4
2. Grease and line a 900g loaf tin, then whizz 100g of the strawberries into a purée
3. Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy
4. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, spooning in a little flour after each addition to prevent curdling
5. Add the rest of the 200g flour, the vanilla and almonds, then beat until smooth
6. Put half the batter into another bowl and mix in the strawberry purée, the extra 1 tbsp flour and a drop of food colouring
7. Mix the milk into the plain batter
8. Dollop the two batters alternately into the prepared baking tin, then gently swirl together
9. Bake for 1 hour, until risen and golden and a skewer comes out clean
10. Leave the cake to cool in the tin
11. For the icing, beat together the soft cheese and butter until smooth
12. Stir in the icing sugar a little at a time, followed by the vanilla paste, until you have a thick, creamy mixture
13. Spread this over the cooled cake, then top with the remaining strawberries, halved, to decorate
14. Mix together the syrup ingredients and spoon over the cake
15. If there’s any left, serve in a jug on the side