Yoghurt cake with macerated strawberries and balsamic candied pistachios

To begin, prepare the strawberries. Slice the green tops off, ensuring there is a little bit of red berry still attached, and place them in a bowl (reserve the rest of the strawberries until you build the cake). Mix the tops with the icing sugar, then stir in the lemon juice. Set aside at room temperature to allow the strawberry tops to release their liquid while you get on with the rest of the recipe

For the cake, preheat an oven to 170°C/gas mark 3. Beat the eggs with the yoghurt and oil in a bowl. In a separate mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder, then add the egg mixture and gently fold until combined. Pour the batter into a 18cm cake tin (or smaller, if you prefer a taller cake) and bake for 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven to cool, but leave the oven on

Place the pistachios on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 3 minutes. Remove and drizzle over the balsamic vinegar, then return to the oven for a further 2 minutes. Remove from the heat

While the pistachios are resting, place the sugar in a pan and gently melt. As soon as it starts to colour around the edges, add the pistachios and stir to crystallise. Spread out on a tray and leave to cool

When ready to assemble the cake, quarter the strawberries (or halve them, if they’re small) and pass the liquid from the strawberry tops through a sieve. Toss the strawberries with the strawberry juice and set aside

Whip the cream, sugar and vanilla seeds to a soft peak consistency, then fold into the yoghurt

Cut the cake in half horizontally, then spread a third of the whipped yoghurt on top of the bottom half. Place the strawberries on top in a neat pattern, right up to the edges of the cake, saving some to go on top. Spread another third of the yoghurt on the other half of the cake, then place that on top of the strawberries to create a sandwich, pressing down slightly to make sure it is as flat as possible

Spread the remaining yoghurt over the top of the cake and arrange the strawberries and pistachios on top