For those of you who aren't following us on social media we have a little Morning Tea ritual here every day at 10.30am when we gather for coffee, chats- and cake!

The lovely Jo spoils us each Monday with something particularly delicious, thus the hashtag MorningTeaByJo was born. Amazingly creative, in the 18+ months of being back with us in Cellar Door Jo has never repeated a single recipe, not one!

This week she has agreed to supply the recipe for this week's zingy, fresh little number, as requested by our Instagram follower @bronmck...

Ingredients

Cook 350g of pumpkin and mash. For Monday's cake I boiled it, but you could get different flavour effects from roasting (I might have to try that!). This should equate to about a cup / 250 ml of mashed pumpkin.

250g unsalted butter

rind of an orange

rind of two lemons

optional extra - mandarin rind (I have some in the freezer pre-ground from the winter and put in about 2 tablespoons)

1 cup caster sugar

3 eggs, separated

2 cups SR Flour

1 cup mashed pumpkin

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons orange juice

3/4 cup sugar

2 punnets strawberries

Xanthum gum

Chocolate icing (I made mine a butter based, milk chocolate using cocoa)

Method

Preheat oven to 180 C and line two matching tins. As a guide use 23 cm diameter round tins, although I used slightly bigger. Grease whole tin before putting in paper. In order to equally separate the mixture between the tins I weigh the main bowl I am mixing in before I start.

Beat the butter, sugar and rinds together until pale and creamy in a large bowl (I use an electric stand mixer - anything else is hard work!). Add egg yolks, reserving the whites in a small bowl to add in at the end. Add flour and pumpkin alternatively to make a thick batter. Beat the egg whites separately to soft peaks. Fold in about a third of the egg whites into the heavy batter. Expect them to largely deflate, but the purpose of adding a smaller amount first is to ensure the rest doesn't! This should loosen the mixture so you can fold in the rest with less deflation. Weigh the mixture in the bowl, subtract the weight of the bowl and divide in two so you know how much to put in each tin.

Gently spoon mixture into tins and smooth top. Bake for around half an hour and then check. Depending on the tins you use it may take at least another 15 minutes to cook cakes. Test by gently touching the top or using a skewer. You want the cakes to bound back when you press on them, or else a clean skewer after removal from the middle of the cake.

While the cake is baking put the lemon and orange juice with the sugar in a small saucepan. This is to make a syrup to pour over each cake to up the citrus as well as the sweetness. When the cake is nearly done, heat the sugar and juice and stir to dissolve sugar. Then bring to the boil, reduce and simmer for about 2 minutes.

When you bring the cakes out of the oven spoon the hot syrup evenly over the hot cakes, going slow so the syrup soaks in. Leave the cakes in the tins for at least 10 minutes and then turn out to cool on a rack.

While the cakes cook hull the strawberries. Don't add sugar, even if they are really tart. You want their acidity to offset the rest of the cake. If they are large cut into halves or quarters, otherwise leave them whole. Cook gently in a saucepan with the lid on until the juices release and the fruit is soft. You want a chunky texture so don't cook to a puree. Cool until warm and then add in xanthum gum by sprinkling in teaspoon amounts at a time and mixing in. This will break up the strawberries a bit more, but you want to try and keep a varied texture. Add enough gum so that the liquid part of the strawberries forms a solid paste. You need to ensure it can be sandwiched between the cakes without leaking out the sides. Beware too much gum, as it creates a strange texture. If you are worried you can reduce the liquid by cooking without the lid on the saucepan for a while to dry the strawberries out.

When the cake and the strawberries are cool mix up an icing. I never use a recipe for this unless it is a meringue or proper butter cream, but always ensure you have a generous amount. You can always freeze leftovers to use another day. For this cake I aimed for a milk chocolate, creamy texture and flavour to offset the sharpness of the unsweetened strawberry and complement the citrus / earthiness of the cake. It needs to be soft enough to work over the entire cake, but also capable of holding the whole thing together.

Sandwich the strawberry paste between the cakes and then ice in chocolate icing. The easiest way to do this is to start with the sides using a layer that holds is all together and then add additional to give a smooth finish. Then do the top and neaten where the top and sides meet.

Other tips from Jo:

Don't buy caster sugar - grind your own instead. You can use a food processor easily to do this.

Don't grate rind off citrus. I always use a peeler and chop to a fine consistency either using a knife (I like chopping!) or with a grinder / food processor. This way you retain more of the rind oils and get better flavour.

For this cake I put the peel of the citrus with the sugar in a food processor and ground the lot together. This releases oils all through the sugar and is a much better flavour.

Think of icing as a third dimension of flavour and not just decoration. It should bring another element to the taste of a cake, otherwise its just an unhealthy extra.