the Tea Room with its three original teapot marks
Recipes & stories

Baking with Harriet.

Simple classics, a few little tips, and something lovely for your cake tin.

Let’s start with
a classic sponge.

Dust down your pinnies and get out your whisks. I’m sharing some of the basics of baking, starting with a simple sponge filled with raspberry jam and vanilla icing.

Baking calls for a little more precision than cooking. Measuring carefully makes all the difference. If you’ve read Lessons in Chemistry, you’ll know why we agree that there’s a little chemistry in every cake.

Harriet x

Let’s bake
Harriet and Sue at the Tea Room

Before you put
the kettle on.

  • Preheat your oven. An oven thermometer helps you check the temperature accurately.
  • Bring your ingredients to room temperature beforehand.
  • Measure everything out before you start. It’s much easier than remembering a missing ingredient halfway through a bake.
  • The all-in-one method works well for this sponge. There’s no need to cream the butter and sugar separately.
  • Modern flour does not usually need sifting for this recipe.
  • Keep a tidy workspace. While the cake bakes, clean up and get the filling ready.
  • Grease and line your tins. I like silicone tins because the cake is easier to turn out.

Raspberry jam
& vanilla sponge.

Two 8-inch round tins · Bake for about 25 minutes · 180°C / 170°C fan

For the sponge

  • 300g caster sugar
  • 300g softened butter
  • 300g self-raising flour
  • 6 eggs, beaten

For the filling

  • 2 tbsp raspberry jam
  • A tub of vanilla icing
  • A squeeze of lemon
  • Icing sugar, for dusting
  • Fresh strawberries, to decorate

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180°C, or 170°C fan. Butter the two 8-inch round tins and line their bases.
  2. Beat the butter, sugar, beaten eggs and self-raising flour together in a large bowl until the batter is smooth and soft.
  3. Divide between the tins and smooth the tops with a spatula.
  4. Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden and the cakes spring back when gently pressed.
  5. Turn onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.
  6. Stir the squeeze of lemon into the vanilla icing. Spread it on one sponge, leaving a little space at the edge. Spoon the jam over the icing and place the second sponge on top.
  7. Dust with icing sugar and decorate with halved strawberries, leaving their leaves on for a little colour.

Good luck, and remember: practice makes perfect!

Prefer Harriet to do the baking? We bake whole cakes for birthdays, thank-yous and other occasions.

Enquire about a cake