Victoria Sandwich Recipe

Here is my instructions for making a Victoria Sandwich. It's one recipe I believe everyone should learn, as it is simple yet versatile. You can make it for charity bake sales or visits from friends. This has the effect of making bake sales in England have about five of these for sale. But in America, you can brag about your traditional British cake! Also, you can leave out the jam and use flavoured icing, and it's easy enough to turn the basic recipe into a chocolate one, too. The recipe is under the cut!

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 225g self-raising flour
• 225g caster sugar
• 225g butter
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Vanilla essence (if you're feeling really fancy, you could use fresh vanilla)

For the icing:

• 140g butter
• 280g icing sugar
• 1-2 tbsp milk

For topping:

• Jam (traditionally raspberry, but you could use strawberry)
• Icing sugar, for sprinkling
• Strawberries

1. Preheat your oven to 180oC.
2. Cream your butter and sugar together, then add the flour.
3. Crack your eggs into a separate bowl, and add them in one at a time, along with the baking powder and vanilla essence.
4. Mix until it resembles this consistency: 
   
5. Grease and line two cake tins: 
6. Spread the mixture evenly between two tins.
7. They should take about 20 minutes, but make sure you keep checking them throughout the cooking time. They're ready when a cocktail stick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
8. To make the butter icing, beat the butter until it is soft, then add the icing sugar. First add one tablespoon of milk, and then the second if it seems too dry.
9. Remove the cakes from the oven and place them on a baking tray to cool.
10. Once cooled, add the butter icing to one half of the cake, and jam to the other, and put them together.
11. Sprinkle a little icing sugar on top and decorate with strawberry halves. If you can, try a bit now while it's still fresh.