Frances Quinn's 'jam sandwiches' cake recipe | Sainsbury`s Magazine (2024)

This fun cake was Great British Bake Off winner Frances Quinn's first signature bake on the show. Frances says: 'I sometimes use a special large bread-shaped cake tin for this cake, but here I simply bake the cake in a regular loaf tin and cut it into individual slices of “bread”, ready to assemble as sandwiches'

Frances Quinn

Frances became famous during GBBO 2013 with her consistently spectacular bakes. She creates stunning cakes for various publications and published her first book Quinntessential Bakingin 2015.

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Ingredients

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Step by step

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Grease and line a 900g loaf tin (preferably one with vertical rather than sloping sides).
2. Using a hand-held electric whisk, or in a free-standing mixer, beat the butter and sugar together for 5-10 minutes, or until very light, pale and creamy. Break the eggs into a mug or jug. Add the vanilla and beat with a fork. Gradually add the eggs to the creamed butter and sugar mixture, beating well after each addition. If the mixture looks like it’s curdling, add a spoonful of the flour. Sift in the flour and fold in until just combined. Then gently fold in 4 teaspoons of warm water.
3. Scrape the cake mixture into the prepared tin and level it with a spatula. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the cake is risen and lightly golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Leave to cool fully.
4. Next, make the buttercream for the filling. If you have a free-standing mixer, put the butter, icing sugar, milk and vanilla extract into the bowl, cover the bowl with a tea towel to prevent a cloud of sugar from escaping, and start beating slowly. Increase the speed and beat the mixture until it is fluffy and almost white, stopping a few times to scrape down the side of the bowl. I beat for up to 10 minutes at full speed to create a really light finish. If using a hand-held electric whisk, beat the butter in a bowl until soft and pale, then sift in the icing sugar in batches, working it into the butter with a spoon before adding the milk and vanilla. Beat at full speed until the buttercream is light and fluffy.
5. Using a serrated knife, carefully trim off the browned ends of the loaf cake to reveal the golden inside. Then cut the cake into 1cm thick slices – you should get 16 slices.
6. Taking a pair of slices, top one slice with the jam. Spread the underside of the second slice with buttercream and place on top. Or, divide the jam between the buttercream- topped layers and leave as open sandwiches. Cut in half to make triangles if you like.