Mary Berry’s red velvet sandwich cake

“An impressive, but easy cake,” is how iconic TV cook Mary Berry describes this bake.

“Use a professional food colouring paste, if you can; a natural liquid colouring won’t work and may turn the sponge green,” she recommends.

“For a particularly elegant finish, you could make extra icing and crumb coat the sponge before applying the top layer of icing.”

Red velvet sandwich cake

Ingredients:

(Serves 8)

Butter, for greasing

250g (9oz) plain flour

1 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

250g (9oz) light muscovado sugar

200ml (⅓ pint) buttermilk

150ml (¼ pint) sunflower oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp red food colouring gel or about ¼ tsp food colouring paste

2 large eggs

8 white chocolate truffle balls, to decorate

For the buttercream icing:

250g (9oz) butter, softened

300g (10½oz) icing sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas 4. Grease and line the bases of 2×20cm (8in) sponge sandwich tins with non-stick baking paper.

2. Measure the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and sugar into a bowl and mix well.

3. Mix the buttermilk, oil, vanilla, food colouring and 100ml (3½fl oz) water in a jug. Add the eggs and whisk until smooth. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until combined. The mixture should be bright red; it will get a little darker as it cooks. If it’s not as vivid as you’d like, add a touch more colouring.

4. Divide the mixture evenly between the two prepared tins and level the surfaces. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25–30 minutes, or until well risen and shrinking away from the sides of the tins. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out, peel off the paper and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

5. To make the buttercream icing, place the soft butter and vanilla extract in a large bowl and sift in half the icing sugar. Mix with an electric whisk until smooth. Sift in the remaining icing sugar and mix again. Add the mascarpone to the bowl and gently stir with a spatula until smooth (don’t beat with a whisk as it may split). Put a fluted nozzle in a piping bag and spoon about 150g (5oz) of the buttercream into the bag.

Mary Makes it Easy is published by BBC Books, priced £28. Photography by Laura Edwards. Available now.