Simple Victoria Sponge

Traditional British cake, as taught to me by my mother.

Ingredients

Cake
175g self raising flour (all purpose can be used, but to make it self raising, add a pinch of salt and approximately half a teaspoon to a teaspoon of baking powder)
1 tsp baking powder
175g golden caster sugar
3 eggs (on the largish side)
175g butter (soft. leave it out of the refrigerator for an hour or so)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Filling

Whipped Cream (I usually just wing it on the amount, here in Canada the highest percentage of cream we can get is 35% so I have to whip it, but if you can obtain 55% cream, it probably doesn't need whipping)

Some sort of fruit jam or preserve


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Preheat the oven to 325F, 160C, or Gas Mark 3

1. Sift the flour into a large bowl with the baking powder. Do this as high as possible from the bowl to get the maximum amount of air in the flour.
2. Add all other ingredients. Use an electric mixer or fold it with a wooden spoon until smooth (5 minutes on high speed or so). This means that if you take a spoonful of your mixture and bang it on the side, it will come off rather easily (but not too easily otherwise it would be like soup!). If the mixture is too stiff, add a little bit of water and remix. Test again until you're satisfied.
3. Divide the mixture amongst two 20cm round cake tins (of around 4cm in depth) which are lined with parchment paper. To do this is easy. Cut the circle for the bottom and for the side, use a long strip with notched cut into it so it stays. It's easier if you grease the tin with butter beforehand so then the paper stays put.

Here are two sites with photos to demonstrate:

http://www.goodhousekeeping.co.uk/in...ng_a_round_tin
http://www.deliaonline.com/cookery-s...in,763,AR.html

4. Put the tins in the oven for 30 minutes. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DURING THIS TIME.
5. After 30 minutes, check the cake. To check, touch the centre of each tin and if the sponge bounces back at your touch then it's done. Alternately, stick a toothpick in and if it comes out clean, it's done.

5. Now if you don't want to add jam or cream, you're done here. Dust some icing sugar on top of each if desired.

Filling

6. Place one cake on its intended serving plate. Spread jam onto it. Do the same with the bottom of the other cake. Then on top of the cake on the plate, spread your cream. After you're satisfied, put the top cake onto the bottom one and, TA DAAAA! Sponge cake!

Notes

Strawberry jam is the best with this.
If you're small, ask your mum to help you with this.
It's helpful if the eggs are not cold.
If the butter gets stuck in chunks, it's likely too cold (hard). Leave it for 5 minutes or so and then come back.
Another tip regarding the butter: when putting it into the bowl, cut it into small chunks so the mixing process is shorter.


Anyways, I hope you like it ^^

<3 Susi