In my book of life's little luxuries, English strawberries are up there with cashmere bedsocks and monthly facials. The short season and sense of occasion that hits you every time you eat one are two good reasons to love them. But this posting is less about love for strawberries and more about love as an ingredient.This week, I made two birthday cakes for two special men in my life. My husband, Stewart, and Granpa Smith (yes, no 'd'. It's a family thing). And I made the same cake. With 60 years and one day between them, there was only one that would happily straddle the generations - the classic Victoria sandwich. A cake for all ages, as my Dad neatly coined.
In the spirit of a toe in both age camps, the recipe is derived from two sources - one modern (Waitrose.com), and one old (my colleague Claire's recipe file, a piece of 'cakelore' handwritten in onzes) - perfectly mirroring the generational span between the two men for which the cakes were made. 
The cake certainly has strawberries in it (both fresh and preserved in jam) but it also has a lot of love. That invisible extra ingredient that means shop-bought cakes will just never do. It's the reason to cream butter and sugar at 10pm on a Friday night, to buy a second lot of double cream (when the first lot goes off after sitting in a warm pub for 4 hours) and to walk the extra mile to find just the right jam (Peyton and Byrne's Essex Strawberry Jam) and the best English strawberries on the shelves. It's the reason people make cakes. Enjoy.Classic Victoria sandwich (a cake for all ages)
Makes 10-12 slices
220g unsalted butter or margarine
220g unrefined caster sugar
220g self raising flour
11/2 tsp baking powder
4 medium eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp natural vanilla essence
Makes 10-12 slices
220g unsalted butter or margarine
220g unrefined caster sugar
220g self raising flour
11/2 tsp baking powder
4 medium eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp natural vanilla essence
A whole lot of love
To decorate
Strawberry jam
Fresh strawberries, washed, dried and sliced
Icing sugar
Double cream, whipped
To decorate
Strawberry jam
Fresh strawberries, washed, dried and sliced
Icing sugar
Double cream, whipped
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan/180°C/Gas 4.
The butter or margarine needs to be really soft, so if yours is coming straight from the fridge or the supermarket chiller, follow my Mum’s brilliant tip – put the fat in a mixing bowl then stand it in a sink filled with hot water, along with the beater attachment if you’re using a freestanding mixer.
While that’s going on, grease and line two 8in (20 cm) sandwich tins. Triple sift the flour and baking powder (from Claire’s recipe for light-as-a-feather sponge), and lightly beat the eggs.
When the butter or margarine is soft enough, beat it with the sugar until it goes pale and fluffy. If it all sticks to the beater attachment, the fat is still too cold, so put the bowl back into the hot water.
Slowly add a little egg (about a tbsp) and then a little flour. If your mixture looks curdled, don’t throw away the whole bowlful (as I, ahem, have in the past). The cake will just come out a bit heavier as some of the air has been lost.
Keep adding egg and flour then add the vanilla essence. Buy the best you can or it will taste seriously artificial (there’s a reason why one bottle is 39p and the other is £3.90).
Pour the mixture into the two tins, giving them a little shake to level the mixture. Put them on the same shelf in the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Let someone you love lick the bowl.
Leave the cakes to cool for 10 minutes then turn out onto a rack. Put the cake you’re using as a base upside down, so the domed top flattens down. Leave them to cool completely.
Finish the cake by spreading the base with jam, then topping with strawberry slices (arranging them so the points stick out the sides). Smear cream over the other top part of the sandwich then put on top. Dust with icing sugar and decorate with a few strawberry slices.
The butter or margarine needs to be really soft, so if yours is coming straight from the fridge or the supermarket chiller, follow my Mum’s brilliant tip – put the fat in a mixing bowl then stand it in a sink filled with hot water, along with the beater attachment if you’re using a freestanding mixer.
While that’s going on, grease and line two 8in (20 cm) sandwich tins. Triple sift the flour and baking powder (from Claire’s recipe for light-as-a-feather sponge), and lightly beat the eggs.
When the butter or margarine is soft enough, beat it with the sugar until it goes pale and fluffy. If it all sticks to the beater attachment, the fat is still too cold, so put the bowl back into the hot water.
Slowly add a little egg (about a tbsp) and then a little flour. If your mixture looks curdled, don’t throw away the whole bowlful (as I, ahem, have in the past). The cake will just come out a bit heavier as some of the air has been lost.
Keep adding egg and flour then add the vanilla essence. Buy the best you can or it will taste seriously artificial (there’s a reason why one bottle is 39p and the other is £3.90).
Pour the mixture into the two tins, giving them a little shake to level the mixture. Put them on the same shelf in the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Let someone you love lick the bowl.
Leave the cakes to cool for 10 minutes then turn out onto a rack. Put the cake you’re using as a base upside down, so the domed top flattens down. Leave them to cool completely.
Finish the cake by spreading the base with jam, then topping with strawberry slices (arranging them so the points stick out the sides). Smear cream over the other top part of the sandwich then put on top. Dust with icing sugar and decorate with a few strawberry slices.
You've made me want a piece of cake now! Looks a whole lot better than the one I made Matt - it had frilly edges because I didn't line the tin properly!
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