the best victoria sponge - bake with me

So for any of those out there who know me, and know me quite well will be aware of my love for baking, well love for anything that involves eating cake, but yes my love for baking..

I have decided to include a new series into my blog, sharing my little baking joys and spreading the love throughout my recipes for you all on here, this week I thought I would grace you all with possibly the tasiest victoria sponge cake *ever*.

Did I mention it's actually super easy and quick to make too?

You will need:

200g Caster Sugar 

200g of softened butter (it makes it easier to mix)

4 eggs (beaten)

200g self raising flour 

2 tbsp milk 

Now the method should really be followed as it's written to make the cake super lightweight and full of spongey goodness..

Method:

* Preheat the oven to 190c - Fan or 170c/Gas Mark 5 

* Butter two sandwhich tins and line these with non stick baking paper (this makes them pop out of the tins with ease, nothing worse than making a beautiful base for it to get stuck and fall to pieces :(

* Using a sieve for the powdered ingredients & also fold in the beaten eggs slowly ensuring everything is well mixed together creating a smooth batter with no lumps.

* Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins.

* Smooth the surface with a spatula or baking spoon.

* Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes or until golden brown (the best way to test if the cake is fully cooked throughout is to take a skewer or a knife and poke it through the middle, if there is no residue left on the skewer/knife then your sponge is completely cooked, if these is residue continue to bake until there is none. 

* Leave the sponges to cool for around 20-30 minutes otherwise the cream/jam will run out of the inside of the cake!

Now for the filling, I personally use extra thick double cream, I whip this with a wisk until it reaches light peaks, basically it looks like a light thick mousse and if you were to tip the bowl upside down nothing would come out, once this point is reached you can take your spatula/wooden spoon and spread this onto the bottom base, I like to have a really thick layer of cream as generally this is my favourite part, although you can tailor this to your preferences!

For the jam, spread on the top layer of the cake (the underneath of the top layer if you catch my drift). I use either Tiptree raspberry conserve, it has a gorgeous sticky finish with no bits, or if you prefer a jam with bits in I also recommend Bon Maman Strawberry conserve, both are equally delicious it really is down to what you prefer, alternatively you can use any jam you like, these are just the ones I personally like and find work well! 

* Place the two pieces of cake together (like the photo below.

* Dust over the top of the cake with some icing sugar and decorate how ever you like, these cakes also look really pretty decorated with summer berries, this is something I would do if they cake was for an occasion as it always has a wow factor to it :) 

.. And enjoy, Im pretty sure you will love this recipe, if any of you make it please send me a photo of your creation or hashtag your photo with #frankieboobakes 

Love Frankie xo