I made Mary Berry's classic Victorian sponge - but added 1 thing that made it much better

Mary Berry is Britain's most famous baker and not for nothing is she known as the "queen of baking". For decades she has helped people from all walks of life get to grips with baking, helping them produce wonderful-tasting creations in as simple a way as possible.

It's quite simply good old-fashioned cooking at its best - but still delivers great results today. So when my daughter came home from school one day saying there was a class Victoria sponge contest in a couple of days that she wanted to take part in, I instantly knew the first place I'd turn.

I love cooking but I am by no means an expert baker. In fact, I still find cakes intimidating despite how much I enjoy being in the kitchen and experimenting with new foods and flavour combinations (you can find my healthy chocolate peanut butter bar that tastes better than Snickers here or my superfood chocolate mousse here).

But Mary Berry's classic and easy Victoria sponge recipe was a really straightforward recipe to make with a nine-year-old, who really enjoyed the whole process.

Depsite the simplicity of the sponge recipe, both sponges (one on top, one on the bottom) still came out of the oven really springy to the touch, exactly as they should.

Mary Berry's easy Victoria sponge cake recipe is described as "a baking classic and a tasty tea-time treat" that's best eaten fresh. In this recipe, the sponge is simply filled with jam, but I added the optional extra of whipped cream, which I think made it so much more moist, indulgent, tasty and inviting.

As it was a cake for a school competition too, we had fun with decorating the top with whipped cream in different colours as well as strawberries and blueberries, which wasn't part of Mary's recipe and some Victoria sponge purists might disagree with!

Of course, you don't need to do that and you could just fill the centre with jam (or jam and cream) and dust some icing sugar across the top. The beauty of this recipe is it's a great base for being as creative as you like.

Ingredients

• 4 free-range eggs
• 225g caster sugar, plus a little extra for dusting the finished cake
• 225g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 225g baking spread at room temperature, plus a little extra to grease the tins
• good-quality strawberry or raspberry jam
• whipped double cream (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Grease and line two 20cm (8-inch) sandwich tins.

Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl, then add the sugar, flour, baking powder and butter. Mix together until well combined with an electric hand mixer or wooden spoon - and be careful not to over mix (the finished mixture should fall off a spoon easily).

Divide the mixture evenly between the tins: this doesn't need to be exact. Gently smooth the surface of the cakes.

Bake the cakes on the middle shelf of the oven for 25 minutes. Check them after 20 minutes. Mary says: "The cakes are done when they're golden-brown and coming away from the edge of the tins. Press them gently to check - they should be springy to the touch."

Set aside to cool in their tins for five minutes. Run a palette or rounded butter knife around the inside edge of the tins and carefully turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack.

If you're using whipped cream in the centre (or on top, or on both, like I did) now would be a good time to whip your cream - a 300ml pot should be plenty.

To assemble the cake, place one cake upside down onto a plate and spread it with plenty of jam. If using, spread your whipped cream over the other cake.

Then put the two together, with the jam and cream coming together in the centre. Sprinkle over the caster sugar. Or, if you're adapting Mary's own recipe for your own creation, feel free to be creative with more whipped cream and fruit or any other decoration on top!