Victoria sandwich

If you only ever make one cake, let it be the glorious Victoria sandwich. The simple mix of equal quantities of eggs, butter, sugar and flour, sandwiched together with raspberry jam, makes it the queen of British cakes.

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Sift the flour and salt together into a bowl and put aside. In a large mixing bowl, using either a wooden spoon or a hand-held electric whisk, beat the butter to a cream. Add the caster sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is very light and creamy.

The lighter and fluffier the butter and sugar mix is, the easier it will be to blend in the eggs, which in turn helps to prevent the mixture curdling. Add the eggs, about a quarter at a time, adding 1 tbsp of the flour with each addition and beating thoroughly each time. Beat in the vanilla extract with the last of the egg.

Sift in the rest of the flour, half at a time, and use a large metal spoon to carefully fold it in. The mixture should drop off the spoon easily when tapped against the side of the bowl. If it doesn’t, then add 1–2 spoonfuls of hot water

Divide the mixture equally between the prepared sandwich tins, spreading it out lightly and evenly with the back of a spoon. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 25 minutes or until the cakes are lightly golden and spring back into shape when gently pressed with a finger.
Leave them in the tins for a couple of minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely. When cold, spread one cake layer with the jam, place the second on top and dust lightly with caster sugar. The cake will keep for 5 days in an airtight tin.

Serves 8-10
175g self-raising flour
Pinch of sea salt
175g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and softened
175g caster or vanilla sugar, plus extra to finish
3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

3–4 tbsp soft-set raspberry jam

Equipment

2 x 20cm sandwich tins, lightly greased and base-lined with baking parchment

Variations

Replace the raspberry jam with homemade lemon curd. Fill and top with hazelnut chocolate spread. Use glacé icing instead of sprinkling with sugar.

Chocolate

Replace 25g of the flour with cocoa powder. Fill the cake with chocolate buttercream