The saying "sell like hotcakes" has cakes mentioned in it for a reason cause they are everyone's favourite. CAKE is the sweet tooth people always have some space for. You can eat it on your birthday, you can enjoy it by the ocean, or you can simply just have a slice. No one really knows how this holiday came about, but we all know that we all love to eat cake. So, on this special occasion, what better way to celebrate it than baking a cake?! 

Here are two recipes of the oldest and sweetest Vanilla Sponge cakes with a twist:

1)    Berry Vanilla Sponge Cake

Ingredients

For The Cake:

225g (8oz) butter, softened
225g (8oz) caster sugar
4 medium eggs, beaten
225g (8oz) self-raising flour

For The Butter Icing:

140g (5oz) butter, softened
280g (10oz) icing sugar, sifted
1-2tbsp milk
2 drops vanilla extract

To Finish:

4tbsp strawberry jam
250g berry compote
Icing sugar for dusting
Fresh summer berries, to decorate

Method

Preheat the oven to 190ºC (375ºF, gas mark 5). Grease and baseline two 20.5cm (8in) sandwich tins. Beat the butter and sugar until pale and light. Gradually beat in the eggs.

Sift the flour over the cake batter and fold in gently. Divide the mixture evenly between the tins and level with a knife. Bake in the oven for 20-30 mins or until well risen, firm to the touch and shrinking away from the sides of the tin. Turn out and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Cut each cake in half horizontally. Make the butter icing by beating the butter in a large bowl until soft. Add half the icing sugar and beat until smooth, then add the remaining icing sugar with 1tbsp milk and the vanilla extract. Beat until creamy. Add icing sugar to thicken or milk to make runnier, as necessary. Sandwich the cake halves together with the butter icing (so you still have two separate cakes) and berry compote.

Place one of the cakes on a plate, spread with the jam and set the other cake on top. Dust with icing sugar and decorate with fresh summer berries.

2)    Almond Rasberry Sponge Cake

Ingredients

For The Cake:

5 large eggs
150g (5oz) caster sugar
125g (4oz) plain flour
2 level tbsp cornflour
50g ground almonds
30g (1oz) butter, melted
Few drops almond extract

For The Syrup:

4tbsp caster sugar
2tbsp kirsch

For The Filling:

170g carton raspberries
2tbsp icing sugar
1tbsp kirsch
142-170ml carton double cream

For The Decoration:

142-170ml whipping cream
1tbsp icing sugar
50g toasted flaked almonds
170g carton raspberries
Icing sugar, for dusting
2 x 20cm (8in) round sandwich tins, buttered and base lined

Method

Set the oven to 180°C (gas mark 4).

To make the cake, whisk the egg, caster sugar and almond extract together, preferably using a tabletop mixer, until the mixture is thick and pale, and a trail is left when the whisk is lifted out of the mixture. Sift the flour and cornflour over the top of the whisked mixture and then fold in gently.

Add the ground almonds to the bowl and pour the butter around the edge of the bowl, then fold into the mixture until only just mixed – take care not to overmix.

Divide the mixture between the two prepared tins – weighing the tins will help to make sure that the same amount of mixture is put into each tin. Bake the cakes in the centre of the oven for 20-25 mins, or until the cakes have risen and are springy to the touch in the centre.

Remove the cakes from the oven and leave them to cool in the tins for about 10 mins, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the syrup, pour 4tbsp water into a small saucepan and add the caster sugar. Place the pan over a low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and bring the mixture to the boil and boil it rapidly for about 1 min, then remove the pan from the heat. Leave the syrup to cool for about 5 mins, then add the kirsch, and then brush the warm syrup over the tops of the cakes and leave it to soak in.

For the filling, mash the raspberries with 1tbsp icing sugar and the kirsch. Whip the cream with the remaining 1tbsp icing sugar until it forms soft peaks and then fold this into the mashed raspberries

Use the raspberry cream to sandwich the two layers of cake together.

For the decoration, whip the cream with the icing sugar until it forms soft peaks and then spread it over the top and sides of the cake. Tip the flaked almonds onto a sheet of baking parchment and then gently press them against the sides of the cake.

Arrange the raspberries on the top in the centre and dust with icing sugar just before serving.

Happy National Cake Day <3

We're available for the tasting of your freshly baked droppings from Heaven.