1. Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl and add 250g sugar
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar together using a food mixer or hand held electric whisk
3. Split the Vanilla Pod into two lengthways and scrape the seeds out with a knife and add the seeds to the egg/sugar mix
4. Using a sieve, sprinkle the flour into the whisked egg mix a third at a time and then fold the flour into the mix slowly so that you don't knock the air out
5. Add the butter, carefully distributing evenly through the cake mix
6. Pour into a lined deep 8" tin
7. Cook in the centre of the oven for 30-40 minutes (test if it's ready by inserting a skewer, it should come out clean)
8. Cool the cake in the tin
9. When cooled remove the greasproof lining from the sides and bottom & cut the cake equally in half using a long knife (Use a cake tin base to remove the top... this keeps it in one piece)
10. Spread the jam on the bottom half
11. Whip the cream till it's stiff, then spread the cream on top of the jam
12. Top with sliced fresh strawberries
13. Dot a little cream on a few of the strawberries and put cake top on
14. Pipe or dollop cream on top and add a few strawberries to decorate
15. Shake plenty of icing sugar over the top to make it look ever so pretty
16. Slice the cake and tuck in

Useful notes:

If you would like to make the cake in two shallow tins the cooking time will be reduced to 15-20 minutes. This will save you cutting the cake in two halves

Replace the Strawberries with raspberries and raspberry jam for an alternative cake filling