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Victoria Sponge

The perfect Victoria sponge seems to be the holy grail of baking – if you can achieve a well-risen, golden, fluffy sponge you can conquer anything! There are a couple of tricks to help you on the way: the creaming of the butter and sugar and good-quality tins. Follow the steps and you’ll soon be the grand master of fabulous sponge cakes.

Makes one 20cm (8in) cake

Prep: 25 minutes plus cooling

Bake: 30 minutes

Oven:160°c (fan)/180°c/350°F/Gas Mark 4

Ingredients

Cake

250g (9oz) very soft butter, plus a little extra for greasing

250g (9oz) caster (superfine) sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 eggs, large

250g (9oz) self-raising (-rising) flour

2 tbsp milk

Filling

200ml (7fl oz) double (heavy) cream

2 tbsp icing (confectioners) sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste or the seeds from inside 1 vanilla pod

225g (8oz) seedless raspberry jam

A little icing (confectioners) sugar to dust

Equipment

2 × 20cm (8in) round sandwich tins (layer cake pans)

Baking (parchment) paper

Electric hand-held whisk or food mixer

Piping bag fitted with 1cm (³⁄₈ in) round nozzle (optional)

Icing sugar sifter

1 Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan) / 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4. Prepare the cake tins by greasing them well and lining the base of each with a circle of baking paper.

TIP

Good quality tins are one of the keys to the perfect cake – they distribute the heat evenly allowing the cake to rise evenly as it bakes, avoiding the domed top effect.

2 Before you cream the butter and sugar together, the butter needs to be really softened – take no shortcuts here. You should be able to easily push a knife right through the block of butter with little to no resistance. Dice and put it into a microwave-proof bowl and heat for 30 seconds in the microwave on half power if it’s not soft enough – but don’t let it melt!

3 Place the butter in a large bowl and add the caster sugar. Using an electric hand whisk begin to cream them together. Keep going until the mixture has gone very pale: it should almost double in volume and you should no longer feel the texture of the sugar within the butter. This will take you 5–6 minutes. It’s worth the effort – the air you incorporate now will result in a lovely fluffy sponge.

4 Add the vanilla extract to the creamed butter and sugar and stir together. Crack the eggs into a jug and beat them with a fork so that they are less likely to curdle when added to the creamed butter and sugar.

5 Add a small amount of the beaten eggs, just a little drop, and whisk them in fully. Add another drop and beat again. As you add more and more egg the mixture will slip about as you whisk it – but keep whisking until the egg and the creamed butter and sugar come together. It’s really important to do it step by step and whisk the air back into the mixture before adding the next drop of egg. Keep working this way until all of the egg is incorporated and you have a light and fluffy mixture – still packed with the air bubbles you’ve been working in (and not a sign of curdling!). If the air isn’t worked back in after each addition the mix will be very liquidy and will have lost all the oomph you gave it in the creaming stage. For the best cakes it’s worth spending the time doing it slowly.