Strawberries and Cream (Victoria Sponge)

This cake is from Jane Asher's Beautiful Baking cookbook.

It's a simple variation of a Victoria Sponge that has never failed. This was primarily made when our Mum wanted a birthday cake but asked for a simple victoria sponge and we decided it was too boring for all our crazy bunch so we found one with a twist.

You don't necessary need the cookbook for this one, if you know your general sponge recipe you are pretty set. It's merely two vanilla sponges with whipped double cream sweetened with a little icing sugar layered with fresh strawberries so now matter how clumsy you are we're fairly sure you could work this one out however do refer to the recipe if you aren't confident, making lots of the same disastrous cake does get tedious and frustrating (trust me, you'll see with the 21st cake).

Goes perfect with a cup of tea.

Ingredients

for cake

4 medium eggs

the weight of the eggs in:

slightly salted spreadable butter (lurpak works well)

caster sugar

self-raising flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

for topping

1 punnet of strawberries

450ml double cream

2 tbsp icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

- Preheat oven to 180/160(fan oven).

- Prepare two 20cm sandwich tines.

- Beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until it looks like whipped cream.

- Beat eggs with vanilla extract.

- Add the eggs gradually to mixture.

- Add flour bit by bit, a quarter at a time, folding it in.

- Add water here if necessary.

- Put into two tins evenly.

- Bake for 25-35 minutes.

- Take out of tins and cool on a cooling rack.

- Whip cream till it starts to thicken.

- Add sugar and vanilla.

- Beat till forms peaks.

- Spread half of cream on each cake.

- Cut strawberries in half.

- Put about a third to a half of the strawberries on the lower cake.

- Place the rest of the strawberries of the top cake.

- Dust with icing sugar.