Victoria Sponge - cooking recipe

Ingredients

175 g self-raising flour
175 g butter, at room temperature
175 g caster sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, the real stuff
3 tablespoons fruit jam or 3 tablespoons curds
icing sugar, to dust

Preparation

you will need: 2x19cm (71/2 in) diameter, 4cm (11/2in) deep sandwich cake tins, greased and bases lined with baking parchment.
Preheat the oven to 180C, 160C fan, 350F, gas mark 4.
Prepare the cake tins, weigh ingredients and sift the flour 3 times to give it a good airing.
Make sure the butter and eggs are at room temperature.
In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a hand held electric whisk until pale and light- about 10 minutes.
Mix the eggs and vanilla with a fork.
Gradually whisk the eggs into the creamed mixture- in about 5 parts.
Beat each addition of egg in well before adding the next.
Add a little of the sifted flour with the last addition of egg if the mixture looks like it is separating.
When all the egg has been beaten in, lightly fold in half the flour using a metal tablespoon.
Then fold in the remaining flour until combined.
Divide the mixture between the cake tins and spread level.
bake in the centre of the oven for 20-25 minutes.
Touch the centre of each cake with your fingertips if they fell springy and no imprint remains, they are done.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tins for 2 minutes, then turn out on to a cooling rack.
Sandwich the layers together with jam or curd and dust with icing sugar.