A white chocolate and strawberry celebration cake recipe has been voted the best-loved cake by readers of Sainsbury’s Magazine.

More than 12,000 cooking enthusiasts voted in a ‘Cakeoff Competition’ to mark the magazine’s 25th birthday.

The winning cake features a light Genoese sponge, brushed with passion fruit syrup, layered with cream and strawberries, and finished off with a white chocolate collar

“It’s a quintessential British sponge cake with strawberries and cream, but the zingy passion fruit syrup and that striking white chocolate decoration gives it a really modern edge,” commented the magazine’s food director Leah Hyslop.

“Visually, it creates a stunning centrepiece without being too complicated or needing
professional decorating skills, which is why so many of our readers have made it for their family celebrations,” commented editor-in-chief Helena Lang Watch.

The five runners-up – recreated for the magazine’s birthday issue in April – included a sticky ginger parkin, a blueberry cheesecake loaf cake, a chocolate truffle cake and a maple and pecan traybake.

Established in 1993 by Delia Smith, Sainsbury’s Magazine is the UK’s biggest-selling cookery magazine.