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1
Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas mark 4.
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2
Sift the flour and salt together into a bowl and put aside.
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3
In a large mixing bowl, using either a wooden spoon or a hand-held electric whisk, beat the butter to a cream.
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4
Add the caster sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is very light and creamy (this will take about 5 minutes with a hand-held electric whisk and up to 10 minutes using a wooden spoon).
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5
The lighter and fluffier the butter and sugar mix is, the easier it will be to blend in the eggs, which in turn helps to prevent the mixture curdling.
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6
Add the eggs, about a quarter at a time, adding 1 tbsp of the weighed-out flour with each addition and beating thoroughly before adding the next.
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7
Beat in the vanilla extract with the last of the egg.
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8
Sift in the rest of the flour, half at a time, and use a large metal spoon to carefully fold it in.
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9
The mixture should drop off the spoon easily when tapped against the side of the bowl.
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10
If it doesn't, then add a spoonful or two of hot water.
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11
Divide the mixture equally between the prepared sandwich tins (or spoon it all into the larger cake tin if using), spreading it out lightly and evenly with the back of a spoon.
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12
Bake in the centre of the oven for about 25 minutes or until the cake(s) are lightly golden and spring back into shape when gently pressed with a finger.
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13
Leave the cake(s) in the tin(s) for a couple of minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
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14
(If you've baked a single cake, once cooled, cut it horizontally into two equal layers.)
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15
When cold, spread one cake layer with the jam, place the second on top and dust lightly with caster sugar.
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16
The cake will keep for 5 days in an airtight tin.
