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How to make the perfect Victoria sponge cake

It took the invention of baking powder to make such rich, buttery cakes possible. Since then the British have had plenty of time to perfect it.

It may not be fancy or fashionable, but I would be hard pressed to think of a cake I liked better than the simple Victoria sandwich. Coffee and walnut, or a damp, whisky-sodden fruited number might come close, but johnny-come-latelys such as the cheesecake or "death by chocolate" could never hope to compete with the quiet charms of this fete favourite. The Victoria sponge (strictly speaking, this popular name is a misnomer, because a true sponge, of the kind used in swiss rolls, is made from a whisked mixture of eggs, sugar and flour) didn't always keep such a low profile, however: once upon a time, old faithful sat proudly at the culinary cutting edge, because it took the invention of baking powder in the 1840s to make such rich, buttery cakes even possible, let alone popular. The sweet-toothed British celebrated this truly world-changing moment with a gloriously patriotic recipe (although anyone who attempted to follow Mrs Beeton's first version would have been left rather underwhelmed, because the original domestic goddess left out the eggs).

No matter, because in the subsequent century and a half, we've had plenty of time to perfect it. Indeed, the Women's Institute (WI) has elevated Victoria sandwich-making to an art form: a rosette can be won or lost with a loose crumb, or the application of the wrong sort of jam. To be honest, though, I'm not too bothered about winning any prizes – a truly great cake is reward enough as far as I'm concerned.

Ingredients:

3 large eggs, weighed in their shells

The same weight of soft lightly salted butter, caster sugar and self-raising flour

1tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp milk

5 tbsp raspberry jam

Caster sugar, to top

For the buttercream:

100g butter, softened

200g icing sugar

50ml double cream

Method

Preheat the...