Chocolate Victoria sponges with white chocolate mascarpone filling

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Grease and line 2 x 20cm baking tins.

For the cake, beat the sugar and eggs with an electric beater until pale and fluffy, for no less than 15 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. In a separate bowl, sieve together the flour, baking powder and cocoa and fold into the egg mixture. Divide the mixture between the cake tins and bake for about 25 minutes. Turn the cake out onto a wire cooling rack and carefully peel off the baking paper.

For the filling, gently heat the cream, mascarpone and 200g of the chocolate in a double boiler until smooth. Be careful not to overheat the mixture. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a separate saucepan, melt the remaining chocolate.

Cut each cake into 4 rounds with a cookie cutter. Sandwich these together with the filling and drizzle with the melted chocolate. If you like, top with a chocolate truffle.