1tspvanilla bean pasteor seeds scraped from a vanilla pod
a little butter and flour to grease the cake tins
For the filling and frosting
250| 8.8oz icing sugar
80g| 3oz unsalted butter at room temperature
2-3tbspmilk
1tbspcherry or strawberry jam warmed and sieved
1tspvanilla bean pasteor seeds scraped from a vanilla pod
cherry or raspberry jam to fill - about 6-8 tbsp
fresh cherries to decorate
1tbspstrawberry jam warmed and sieved to drizzle on cakeoptional
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180C | 350F. Grease your cake tins with butter and dust with flour.
Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in your stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddke blade. Add the cubed butter and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the eggs and beat again until mixed in. Add the milk, vinegar and vanilla paste and whisk for 2-3 minutes until the batter is smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula to make sure everything is well blended.
Divide the batter into the prepared tins, do not overfill!, and bake for 15 minutes. The cakes are ready when springy to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. As the layers are fairly thin make sure not to overbake.
Cool on a wire rack and then carefully turn the cakes out of the tins.
Sandwich the cake layers with a little jam, pressing down on the layers so they stick together.
Put the icing sugar and butter in your stand mixer bowl and whisk until light and fluffy, gradually adding the milk and vanilla paste until you have the right consistency. Add the sieved jam and continue whisking until everything is well blended.
Add a thin layer of frosting over the entire cake and then chill or freeze for 30 minutes. Smooth the remaining frosting to cover the cake and drizzle the warmed jam down the sides (optional) then pipe small rosettes all around the outer edge if you like. Decorate with fresh cherries (or berries of choice) and serve.
Notes
This cake was baked in Wilton Round Easy Layer Cake Pan Mould Set* which creates five fairly thin and small (15cm/6in) layers. If you wish to bake a 20cm (8in) cake you will need to double the recipe for the cake and frosting.