There’s no cake that screams celebration more than a sponge!

It is the quintessential celebration cake, particularly for those with roots firmly planted in country regions.

The good thing about the sponge is that as well as being a crowd pleaser it’s also surprisingly easy to make, once you do the ground work.

Ingredients

METHOD

  1. Preheat oven to 170°C.
  2. Sift the flour and baking powder and set aside.
  3. Combine the eggs and sugar in an electric mixer and whisk on high speed for 10 minutes or until pale, thick and tripled in volume.
  4. Sift ½ of flour mixture over egg mixture and gently fold through using a large wooden spoon. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture.
  5. Add the butter and fold through.
  6. Divide the mixture between in 2 x 20cm-round lightly greased shallow cake tins lined with non-stick baking paper.
  7. Bake for 16–18 minutes or until sponges are springy to the touch and come away from the sides of the tins.
  8. Remove from the tins and cool completely on wire racks.
  9. Whisk the cream until stiff peaks form.
  10. Spread one sponge with the jam, top with the cream and strawberries and sandwich with remaining sponge.
  11. Dust with icing sugar to serve. Serves 6–8.