Recipe: Summer Berries Sandwich Cake

Ingredients 
For The Sponges 
- 200g Caster Sugar
- 200g Stork
- 200g Self Raising Flour
- 4 Eggs
- 3 Tsps Vanilla Extract

For The Buttercream 
- 200g Butter, softened
- 320g Icing Sugar
- 3 Tsps Vanilla Extract
- A Selection Of Summer Berries (Raspberries, Blackberries, Red Currants, Black Currants, Strawberries)

Method 
1- Pre heat oven to 180C. Line two 19cm sandwich tins with greaseproof paper.
2- Into a bowl place your caster sugar and stork. Cream together until they become pale and fluffy.
3- Add each egg and a tablespoon of flour next, beating well in between each one.
4- Fold in the rest of your flour and vanilla extract. Take your time folding the flour through as you don’t want to knock out all of the air you’ve just beat into the mixture. I always add my vanilla extract at this point as well so I don’t have to keep unnecessarily folding or beating the mixture.
5- Spoon your mixture evenly between your two prepared tins and bake for 20-22 minutes or until golden brown and springy to the touch.
6- Leave to cool in the tins for five minutes then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
7- Now it’s onto the buttercream. Place your softened butter into a bowl and beat until soft and pale in colour.
8- Sieve in half your icing sugar and beat until fully combined. I’d recommend using a hand mixer or a stand mixer for this part so you don’t end up with cramp halfway through beating the icing sugar in.
9- Sieve in the remaining half of your icing sugar and beat until fully incorporated.  Make sure you scrape the edges of the bowl as you go so there are no pockets of icing sugar clinging to the sides.
10- Usually I add a splash of milk to get it to that perfect piping consistency but adding the vanilla extract will do exactly the same job, once beaten into the mix, your buttercream should be light, fluffy and ready to pipe onto your now cooled cakes.
11- Spoon your buttercream into a piping bag fit with a nozzle of your choice and decorate the first layer of your cake however you choose. I piped tiny icing kisses all the way around my cake, leaving just a small space in the centre where I spooned some of my fruit.
12- Place your next layer on top and continue to decorate. I again piped tiny icing kisses all the way around and in my cake, leaving only a small ring in the centre to spoon some more fruit on top. You can easily use the currants to create a pattern or slice the berries in half and place them sporadically around the cake.
13- Then all that’s left to is let the buttercream set and then slice and enjoy anyway you please. I know this is going to go down well with a nice cuppa.