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Sponge Cake (Mary Berry)

Ingredients

• 4 free-range eggs
• 225g (8oz) caster sugar
• 225g (8oz) self-raising flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 225g (8oz) baking spread, margarine or soft butter at room temperature, plus a little extra to grease the tins

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Grease and line 2 x 20cm sandwich tins. Line the bottom of the tins with a circle of baking paper.
3. Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl, then add the sugar, flour, baking powder and baking spread.
4. Mix everything together until well combined. The easiest way to do this is with an electric hand mixer, but you can use a wooden spoon. Be careful not to over-mix; as soon as everything is blended you should stop. The finished mixture should be of a soft “dropping” consistency; it should fall off a spoon easily.
5. Divide the mixture evenly between the tins.
6. Place the tins on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Don’t be tempted to open the door while they’re cooking, but after 20 minutes do look through the door to check them.
7. 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. Remove them from the oven and set aside to cool in their tins for five minutes. Then run a palette or rounded butter knife around the inside edge of the tin and carefully turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack.