My strawberry garden

Soft base

Start by blanching the basil. Bring a pot of water to the boil, add the basil, already cleaned and washed well, and cook for a few seconds. Drain it and put it in a bowl of ice water so that it does not darken.

Blend the basil well with the oil, using a hand blender.

In the bowl of the stand mixer, start whisking the eggs with the sugar, but not too much: medium speed for 5 minutes.

Fold in by hand the basil oil alternating with the flour, then add the honey, the salt and, last of all, the baking powder.

Pour into a 24 cm round tin, buttered and floured, and bake at 180°C for about 25 minutes. Take the cake out, leave it to cool and place it straight onto the serving plate you have chosen.

Cream

Sieve the fresh ricotta and add the icing sugar, working very quickly so as not to soften the cream too much, then rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.

Assembling the cake

Spread a thin layer of strawberry jam over the surface of the cake. Fill a piping bag without a nozzle with the cream and pipe lots of spikes, decorate with strawberries cut lengthwise and keep going with more rounds of cream spikes and strawberry slices until the cake has a domed shape. Decorate with grated lemon zest and fresh mint leaves.

This cake is also wonderful on its own for a super breakfast: just dust the surface with a light layer of vanilla icing sugar.