I’m making my friend’s wedding cake for her in a couple of months’ time. This is the first (of many I hope) that I have aver made and am hoping that this is something which I can become really good at.

As I have never made one before I thought it was about time I started practising.

To begin with I decided to keep it simple so I started with an easy vanilla sponge which is a fool proof recipe for any type of cupcake or sponge. I made 2 separate cakes in a round cake tin and layered them on top of each other using vanilla buttercream and raspberry jam.

This is also the first time I have attempted to do both a crumb coat and a full cake covering with rolled out icing.

I really want to master this and feel confident as I will probably fall in to panic mode in the run up to the wedding!

Ingredients

These are the ingredients for one sponge cake as I made one at a time (I only had one round cake tin) so you will want to double these measurements up so you can make 2!

Sponge

125g Caster Sugar

125g Unsalted Butter (at room temperature)

2 Medium Eggs whisked

125g Self Raising Flour (sifted)

2tbsp Semi Skimmed Milk

1tsp Vanilla Essence

Buttercream

250g Icing Sugar (sifted)

55g Unsalted Butter

30ml Semi Skimmed Milk

1tsp Vanilla Essence

Additional

1tbsp Raspberry Jam

Ready to Roll Icing

Method

1. To make the sponge whisk together the caster sugar and the butter until creamy

2. Slowly whisk in the eggs, adding a spoonful of the flour to prevent the mixture from curdling

3. Fold in the remaining flour with a metal spoon and then mix in the milk and vanilla extract

4.  Line an 8 inch round tin with greaseproof baking paper. Add the mixture and pop into a preheated oven of 180 degrees (fan) for 18/20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean

5. Let the cake cool before sliding off onto a wire rack to cool further

6. Repeat this process so you have 2 cakes

7. To make the buttercream, whisk together the sifted icing sugar and butter and then slowly add the milk and vanilla extract

8. Even out the top of each of the cakes by thinly slicing off a thin layer with a sharp knife

9. On top of the one cake used a pallet knife to smooth over a thin layer of the buttercream and then smooth the jam on top of the buttercream

10. Balance the other cake on top ensuring that they are even

11. Apply a crumb coat to the entire cake and then refrigerate for around 30 minutes

12. Roll out the icing and use your rolling pin to apply the icing to the cake

13. Smooth down the edges and cut off any excess icing with a sharp knife

14. Garnish with some sliced strawberries