Red, White and Blue

Here is another one of my 4th of July desserts, a classic Summer Victoria Sponge with a little red, white and blue thrown in for celebratory purposes. The recipe came from Nigella Lawson's 'How to be a Domestic Goddess' which is beginning to look like it might need replacing soon with a fresh copy - it is so reliable and so well used! The recipe is seriously simple - See below - mix it all in the food processor and then bake. As I was making the cakes in someone else's kitchen using someone else's oven I was a little nervous and forgot to put the vanilla essence in - I was making it by hand and trying to look relaxed at the same time ;) Still, they came out very nicely and I just added the vanilla to the cream. Yum! Decorating is the best part, but my friend and I got so absorbed with decorating the top that I burnt the top of the Tarte Tartin that was warming under the grill - brilliant Miranda - nobody seemed to find much though as they were all such lovely people and apparently all loved Tarte Tartin with homemade bourbon ice cream. Don't mind if I do!

Victoria Sponge
225g soft unsalted butter
225g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs
200g self raising flour
25g cornflour
1 tsp baking powder (only if using food processor)
3-4 tbsp milk
2 x 21cm sandwich tins about 5cm deep, buttered