Alison O'Neill's Victoria sponge cake

Wednesday 3 June at 5:18pm

We’re joining Alison and and her sheepdog Shadow, live from the Yorkshire Dales - as she shows us how to make her delicious Victoria sponge cake!

Serves: 8

INGREDIENTS

For the sponge:

225g/8oz butter or margarine, at room temperature

225g/8oz caster sugar, plus extra for dusting

4 free range eggs

225g/8oz self raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

For the filling:

5 tbsp good quality strawberry or raspberry jam

250ml double cream, whipped

115g strawberries, sliced

55g raspberries

Juice of half a lemon

To serve:

Icing sugar

Fresh sprigs of mint

METHOD

Heat the oven to 180c/160c/Gas 4. Grease and line two 20cm/8in sandwich tins until the side and base are lightly coated then line the bottom with a circle of baking paper.
Cream the butter or margarine with the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs in one at a time with a little flour.
Gently fold in the rest of the flour adding baking powder
Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins. Use a spatula and remove all the mixture from the bowl, and gently smooth out the surface of each cake.
Bake the cakes on the middle shelf of the oven for 25 minutes - check them after 20 minutes. The cakes are done when golden brown and coming away from the edges of the tins. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool, then run a palette knife around the inside edges of the tins and carefully turn out onto a cooling rack to fully cool.
To assemble the cake, place one half upside down on a plate and spread on plenty of jam, then smooth the cream on top
Arrange the strawberries on top, followed by the raspberries. Squeeze over the lemon juice.
Top with the second sponge, sprinkle over the icing sugar, decorate with the mint and enjoy!

TIP: A good tip is to weigh the eggs - however many you are using, and then the sugar, flour and butter each need to be the same weight. Then follow the method above.