strawberry & vanilla cream sponge

this is actually a bit of a twist from victoria sandwich. the original vic sandwich is just 2 vanilla sponge cakes sandwiched with strawberry jam; the best & easiest vic sandwich was Mary Berry's recipe. but yesterday, for my other half's belated birthday celebration, i wanted  to make it a bit special...recipe taken from bbcgoodfood.com

INGREDIENTS

• 175g unsalted butter , softened
• 175g golden caster sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 175g self-raising flour

FILLING AND TOPPING

• 4 tbsp strawberry jam
• 284ml carton double cream or whipping cream
• 2 tbsp icing sugar , sifted
• 1 vanilla pod , seeds scraped out or 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pink or red coloured granulated sugar (usually found in tubs with mixed cake decorations in most supermarkets) 

METHOD

1. Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Butter and base line two 18cm sandwich tins. Beat all the cake ingredients together in a large bowl until smooth. Divide between the tins and level out. Bake for 20-25 minutes until they are well risen and spring back when lightly pressed. Leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes then turn out onto a rack and peel away the paper. Cool completely.
2. Spread the jam onto the base of one sponge. Lightly whip the cream with the icing sugar and vanilla seeds and spread half of it over the top of the jam. Sandwich the other sponge on top. Spread the remaining cream over the top with a palette knife.
3. Make a heart shape in the centre of the cake by making a cone with some greaseproof paper, pouring in the sugar, snipping off the tip and using like a pen.

my notes :

1. i used the normal caster sugar as there's no golden ones left in the pantry 
2. for the filling and topping, i used whipping cream & vanilla extract - vanilla pod is soooo expensive!.

HAVE A SLICE!!!