Victoria Sponge

Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 and butter and base-line 2 x 20cm loose-bottomed sandwich tins with baking paper. Put the butter and golden caster sugar into a large bowl and use electric beaters to beat the mixture for at least 5 minutes until it turns pale creamy white. Add the eggs 1 at a time, along with 1 tbsp of flour with each egg, and beat for 1 minute between each addition. Continue to beat until tripled in volume and very light and airy. Beat in the vanilla paste.

Sift the remaining flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt into a separate bowl. Add half into the batter and use a large metal spoon to gently fold it in, being careful not to knock out any air. Add the remaining flour mixture and gently fold in. The mixture should drop off the spoon easily – if not, add 1 tbsp of milk and gently fold again. Divide equally between the tins and bake for 20-25 minutes or until risen, golden and a skewer poked into the centres come out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in their tins, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and fold in the cream cheese with a spatula until silky smooth. Cut the cake in half horizontally with a bread knife. Pour the icing onto the bottom half of the cake and spread about 1cm away from the edge of the cake. (Now you can lick out the bowl, I know it’s tempting). Put the top half of the cake on top of the bottom and dust with icing sugar. Now serve to up to 8 people and enjoy!