175g plain flour
175g Butter or Margarine
175g Caster Sugar
3 Eggs
¼ teaspoon of Vanilla Essence
1½ teaspoons of Baking Powder
1-2 tablespoons of Water
Strawberry Jam
Ready Made Icing (or Icing Sugar and Water)
Icing pens/Christmas cake decorations
Thick ribbon
2 18cm (7 inch) sandwich tins
1 Grown Up

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5.

Grease the two sandwich tins.

Mix together the sugar and butter/margarine until the mixture becomes light and fluffy.

Beat the eggs and vanilla essence together.

Add the eggs and vanilla essence to the sugar and butter mixture. Make sure you add a little bit and then mix it in before adding more.

Sift the flour and baking powder.

Gradually fold the flour and baking powder into the mixture. If the mixture becomes too stodgy, add 1-2 tablespoons of water.

Divide the mixture between the two sandwich tins.

Bake in the top of the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes until your cakes are golden.

Check to see if your cakes are cooked by getting your Grown Up to press them gently. If this makes a dent in the cakes, they need to be cooked for a bit longer.

Take the sandwich tins out of the oven and wait for them to cool. Then tip out your cakes.

When they're completely cold, sandwich them together with jam.

Now it's time to ice your big cake to make it look like a Christmas present...

Either cover the cake in ready made icing or mix icing sugar with water. The mixture must be thick enough to evenly cover the cake. If it is too runny, you'll end up with more icing down the sides than on the top.

Next, cut your ribbon so it reaches from the bottom of one side of the cake to the bottom of the other side.

(If you're making up your own icing, you'll need to leave it to set before you do the next bit).

Using the jam, stick two long strips of ribbon to your cake, crossing over in the middle.

Take some more ribbon and make a bow. Stick this to your cake where the existing ribbons cross over.

Decorate your 'wrapping paper' with icing pens. Why not draw on a 'Merry Christmas' label to make it look just like a real Christmas gift?

If you want a different shaped present or you don't like Victoria Sponge, you can use different cake recipes or tin shapes and 'wrap them up' just the same as this one.