Sophie Dahl's orange and raspberry Victoria sponge recipe

Celebrity chef Sophie Dahl makes this perfect orange and raspberry Victoria sponge as part of her BBC2 show The Delicious Miss Dahl. But you don't have to be a celebrity chef to copy Sophie's delicious sponge made with tangy raspberry jam and topped with orange buttercream frosting - which is really easy to make! Sophie shows us how to make the perfect quick Victoria sponge, without scrimping on flavour, and it only uses store cupboard staples so you don't have to spend hours in the supermarket to whip this cake up! We love serving this with clotted cream and a large mug of tea - the perfect cake for tea!

Ingredients

For the sponge:

• 225g butter
• 225g golden caster sugar
• 4 free-range eggs
• 225g self-raising flour
• Zest of a large orange
• Extra butter and flour for greasing
• 2 x 8in Victoria sandwich tins
• Greaseproof paper

For the jam:

• 250g raspberries
• Splash of orange juice (use the orange from the sponge)
• 1 heaped tbsp golden caster sugar

For the icing:

• 250g butter, softened
• 250g icing sugar
• Juice of ½ an orange
• Zest of a large orange

Method

1. Start with the cake: Turn the oven on to 180ºC. Grease the tins, line the bottom of both tins with greaseproof paper and then lightly flour them. See our How to line a round cake tin video
2. Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar.
3. Mix the eggs together in a separate bowl then pour them into your mixer.
4. Sieve in the flour and add the orange zest.
5. Split the mixture evenly between the two cake tins and then bake in the oven for around 25-30 mins until they are golden brown and feel slightly springy on top.
6. While they are baking make your jam and icing. For the jam put the raspberries, orange juice and heaped tablespoon of golden caster sugar into a small pan. Heat gently and allow to slowly break down and reduce into a jammy consistency, then leave to cool.
7. For the icing: Mix the softened butter with the sieved icing sugar, juice of ½ an orange and the zest of a whole orange.
8. When the cakes are cool, spread some icing on to the top of one sponge, then some jam, then sandwich them together and spread the remaining buttercream over the top. Zest over a little more orange to serve.