Classic sponge sandwich - with cream and fresh plums

You know how sometimes you get given a present that you really wanted.. it's the best feeling, and it shows that the person who gave it to you really knows you. My beautiful friend Naomi and her family gave me a cook book for my birthday called 'Ladies, a plate'. I saw this book when i was on honeymoon on Waiheke Island and have desperately wanted it ever since. While we were staying with Naomi's family at their farm a couple of weeks ago i used it for the first time and made a plum and cream filled sponge cake. We picked the plums from the tree outside the house, i love using ingredients from home.

Here's the recipe:

FOR THE CAKE

3 large eggs

6 oz caster sugar

4 oz flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp butter

4 tbsp boiling water

FOR THE FILLING

1 cup cream

2-3 tbsp jam (we didn't have any, i used plums instead, but you could use both)

getting ready:

preheat oven to 190C. Grease two 20cm round sandwich tins and line bases with circles of baking paper. Bring eggs to room temperature. Sift together flour and baking powder.

mixing and baking:

1. Beat the eggs and caster sugar fro 10 mins with an electric beater. They should be very fluffy and pale yellow and the mixture should fall in ribbons from the beaters and remain on the surface for a few seconds before sinking.

2. Sift the flour and baking powder again onto the top of the egg mixture and fold carefully through, using a large shallow metal spoon. Cut through with the edge of the spoon, gently lifting the mixture and turning the bowl as you go.

3. Lastly add the butter, melted in the boiling water, and fold through gently and thoroughly.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tins. Bake the sponges for about 20 minutes. It's better not to try and rotate the tins as they might sink.

5. Remove from the oven and after a few minutes, turn the cakes onto a cooling rack.

FINISHING

Put one sponge upside down on a pretty plate, spread it with your best jam and then a generous layer of whipped cream, sweetened or not as you wish*. Put the other sponge on top, right side up, and sift over a little icing sugar. (You could sift the icing sugar through a stencil or paper doily if you like that idea.)

*I put the plums on here, you could use berries too.