Classic Victoria Sponge

Pre heat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas Mark 4

Grease and line 2 x 20cm/8in sandwich tins: use a piece of parchment paper to rub a little butter around the inside of the tins until the sides and base are lightly coated. Then dust the inside of the tin with flour for extra non stick. You can also line the bottom of the tins with a circle of baking or silicone paper (to do this, draw around the base of the tin onto the paper and cut out).

Break the eggs into a large stand mixer or mixing bowl, then add the sugar, flour, baking powder and butter. Then mix everything together until well combined. Be careful not to over-mix – as soon as everything is blended you should stop. The finished mixture should be of a soft ‘dropping’ consistency – it should fall off a spoon easily.

Divide the mixture evenly between the tins: this doesn’t need to be exact, but you can weigh the filled tins if you want to. Use a spatula to remove all of the mixture from the bowl and gently smooth the surface of the cakes. Place the tins on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Don't be tempted to open the door while they're cooking, but after 20 minutes do look through the door to check.

Your cakes are ready when they are of a golden-brown colour and coming away from the edge of the tins. Press them gently to check – they should be springy to the touch. Remove them from the oven and set aside to cool in their tins for five minutes. Then run a palette knife around the inside edge of the tin and carefully turn the cakes out onto a wire cooling rack. To take your cakes out of the tins without leaving a wire rack mark on the top, put the clean tea towel over the tin, put your hand onto the tea towel and turn the tin upside-down. The cake should come out onto your hand and the tea towel – then you can turn it from your hand onto the wire rack.

Set aside to cool completely. To assemble the cake, place one cake upside down onto a plate and spread it with plenty of preserve. If you want to, you can spread over whipped cream too. Top with the second cake, top-side up. Sprinkle over the caster sugar. Then Simply Enjoy!