Pre-heat the oven. If it’s a fan assisted oven, then 160C is fine. If not, then you want to be at 180C – 200C depending on your oven. Check our oven tips for home baking (insert link) for more info and Gas Mark conversions.
Prepare your cake tins by greasing with a little margarine and lining with greaseproof paper circles. TOP TIP: use a pencil to draw around the base of the tin to make the perfect sized circles.
Carefully weigh out ALL of the ingredients into the mixing bowl. Baking is a science so just throwing in some sugar or splashing in some milk won’t cut it I’m afraid.
Mix on the lowest speed until the flour is combined (this creates less mess) and gradually increase the speed to high. Mix on high speed for a minimum of 2 minutes or until there are no lumps and your cake batter is pale in colour.
Use the spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix again to ensure you have a silky-smooth cake batter.
Weigh out half the cake batter (roughly 400g) into each prepared cake tin and then use your spatula to smooth the surface and make sure it’s nice and level.
Bake for 20 minutes or until well-risen and a light golden colour. If using top and bottom shelves in your oven, the bottom shelf may need a few minutes longer, especially if it’s not a fan oven. Please don’t be tempted to open the oven before they’re ready as this will result in your sponges sinking where they’re not yet cooked through.
When out of the oven, the cakes will cool faster on a wire cooling rack but this isn’t necessary. The cakes MUST be cool before you attempt to frost them.