Valentine’s day is around the corner so I got myself a heart shaped pan, something I have had in mind for years. I had a few recipes in mind that I wanted to give a go, with and without chocolate.

This strawberry and rose cake is super easy to make. The texture and taste are divine. And the cherrry on the cake is that it requires no eggs or involves no softening of butter. One can add any berry, nut or flavouring and it always turns out superb. This is my base recipe to a lot of cakes.

For the frosting, you could go with simple vanilla or use rose again. Or you could use cardamom which is absolutely magical too. The cream cheese frosting is what makes the cake so irresistible.

Eggless Strawberry and Rose Cake
Serves 8-10

1 and 1/2 cups self raising flour 3/4 cup castor sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup greek yoghurt
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp rosewater
1 cup strawberries, roughly chopped
strawberries, for decoration
dried rose buds and petals, for decoration

Cream Cheese Frosting
60 g unsalted butter, room temperature
120 g cream cheese, softened
2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (160 degrees C for fan forced ovens). Grease the base and sides of a 7 inch heart shaped cake pan and line the base with baking paper.

In a large bowl place the flour, sugar and baking soda and stir together to mix. In a separate bowl mix the wet ingredients, yoghurt, milk, oil and rosewater. Add the we...