- Can be cut into 12 slices - Ready in 2 hours (including cooling time) -
Gather together for the scone…
1 tsp butter (to grease the baking trays).
450g self-raising flour (plus extra for dusting surface when kneading).
1½ tsp baking powder.
225g chilled butter, diced into 1cm x 1cm chunks.
140g caster sugar.
100g plain yoghurt.
40ml milk.
1 large egg, beaten before it is added (or use 2 medium eggs and add an extra tbsp of flour if the dough is too sticky).
Gather together for the filling...
EITHER (if your mascarpone has a 'high' 43%+ fat content)...
3 tbsp (50g) icing sugar, SIEVED.
250g tub full-fat mascarpone, it must have a fat content of at least 43% (Morrisons and Tesco mascarpone works well) or else it will split and go liquid-y when it is mixed with the icing sugar.
OR (if your mascarpone has a 'lower' i.e. under 43% fat content)...
125g mascarpone cheese.
300ml double cream (MUST be double cream as it needs to whip up, DO NOT use Elmlea).
1 tsp vanilla extract.
2 tbsp (30g) icing sugar.
and...
4 tbsp (circa 1/2 jar) strawberry jam.
3-6 strawberries (chopped into very small pieces) to mix into the jam layer.
1 tbsp icing sugar or sugar (to dust the top through a sieve).
Serve with...
Good quality vanilla ice cream (optional if the cake is eaten fresh, essential if the cake is a day or two old).
Extra strawberries on the side.
Get cooking…
1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 C (180 C fan) or Gas 6.
2. Lightly butter-grease two big oven trays with 1 tsp of butter.
3. Put the 450g of SR flour in a large bowl (no need to sieve it).
4. Sieve in the 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder (so it doesn’t stay in lumps and taste odd) and mix well.
5. Add the COLD 225g of butter cubes and rub in with clean finger-tips, for about a minute.Use a handheld blender (or food processor) to turn the mix to breadcrumb-like consistency.
6. Mix in the 140g of sugar.
7. Add the 100g of yoghurt, the 40ml of milk and the large beaten egg. Stir with a metal spoon until liquid is mixed in.
8. With clean hands, gather together the mixture into one ball. On a floured surface knead it just four times, i.e. do just one complete circle of kneading.
9. Weigh it. Divide the ball of dough exactly in half, checking that the weight of each half is equal. Put more flour (circa 1 tsp) on the work-surface to dust it.
10. Take half of the dough and squash it gently (using finger tips) into a circle, approximately 18cm (approx. an adult's hand-span) in diameter. Repeat with the rest of the dough, adding more flour (circa 1tsp) to the worksurface, and make the second circle the same size as the first.
11. Place the dough circles onto the greased trays.
12. Put the trays into the oven. After 15 minutes swap the trays over (so the bottom one becomes the top one) and turn the trays a half turn (so the back becomes the front), to help stop burning the dough in a hotter-spot.
13. Bake for a further 10 -15 minutes, checking every 5 minutes that the giant scones don’t burn. If one half is baked sooner, then remove it earlier.
14. Remove from the oven and check that the bottom of each is cooked (turn it over using a folded tea towel onto a baking rack) before cooling.
15. Cool on wire racks for at least an hour before decorating (or the filling will slide out!)
16. Meanwhile, check the fat content of your mascarpone...
16(a). If your mascarpone has a 'high' 43%+ fat content: Into a medium bowl, SIEVE the 3tbsp of icing sugar (otherwise your filling will have unsightly clumps). Add the 250g mascarpone and stir VERY gently for up to 30 seconds. This simple two-ingredient filling ONLY works if your mascarpone has a very high fat content to stabilise the mixture, a lower than 43% fat content will mean the filling quickly becomes runny and leaks out of the cake.
16(b). If your mascarpone has a lower than 43% fat content, add double cream to stabilise it: In a medium bowl, place the 125g mascarpone, the 300ml of double cream and the 1 tsp of vanilla extract and mix with a handheld whisk for about 30 seconds. Sieve in the 2 tbsp of icing sugar and stir until fully mixed, this will take about 1 minute. It will be very runny at this stage - fear not. Then use an electric whisk for 2 - 5 minutes, until firm peaks form.
17. Once cool, decide which scone looks the best and save that to be the top layer, set it aside.
18. Take the scone which is to be used as the bottom layer and turn it over, so the domed-side is pointing down. Cover the flat side with the mascarpone mixture, then top with 1/2 a jar of jam and sprinkle pieces of chopped strawberry over the jam layer, evenly.
19. Put the other giant scone on top (domed side up) and sprinkle (through a sieve) 1 tbsp sugar or icing sugar over the top.
20. Serve with vanilla ice cream and extra strawberries.
21. This cake is best eaten fresh on the day of making as it will dry out on subsequent days - this slight dryness can be disguised by serving it with a side-order of good-quality vanilla ice cream.
22. To store, keep the cake in the fridge (because of the mascarpone) and eat it up within 3 days.
Adapted from BBC Good Food, www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/wimbledon-tea-cake.