Baking recipes

All pictures were taken by myself, using an Olympus OM-D E-M5ii

There's nothing better than a delicious piece of cake with a cup of tea, but there aren't many good gluten-free cakes in the shops, they all tend to be quite dry. So I bake all of my own cakes now, here are some of my favourite recipes.

Victoria Sponge

This is a fool proof recipe that takes half an hour, cuts into 10 pieces and creates a delicious cake!

Ingredients:

For the cake:

200g butter or dairy-free spread, if you want the cake to be dairy free
200g caster sugar or light muscovado sugar
4 small or 3 medium eggs
200g gluten and wheat-free white self-raising flour blend

For the filling:

Raspberry or other good jam
1tsp icing sugar
100g butter, softened
Vanilla extract 1 tsp
1 pack of raspberries or strawberries

Method:

Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Butter two 20cm sandwich tins and line with non-stick baking paper (or just grease with olive/coconut oil or butter). In a large bowl, beat all the cake ingredients together until you have a smooth, soft batter (beat in the eggs one at a time). You know the batter is ready when it is light and fluffy.

2. Divide the mixture between the tins, smooth the surface with a spatula or the back of a spoon, then bake for about 20 mins until golden and the cake springs back when pressed. Turn onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.

3. To make the filling, beat the butter until smooth and creamy, then gradually beat in icing sugar. Beat in vanilla extract if you’re using it. Spread the butter cream over the bottom of one of the sponges, spread the jam over the other sponge. Layer either strawberries or raspberries over the jam.

4. You are now ready to sandwich the second sponge on top. Dust with a little icing sugar before serving.

5. Voila! Keep in an airtight container and eat within 2 days.