Bake Off school cake recipe makes 'delicious' school week cake in 45 minutes

It's back to school week on The Great British Bake Off tonight as GBBO tasks its cohort of aspiring bakers with making a range of retro inspired cakes and treats including a classic 'school cake'.

The retro sprinkle sponge, inspired by the classic lunch hall dessert we all remember from our school days, forms the technical challenge on Tuesday's episode of Bake Off - and if you're inspired by the Channel 4 show, there's an easy and quick recipe to make delicious school cake at home.

The gingham cloth will be whipped off for the second challenge in tonight's show, a technical focusing on school cake, which will then be judged blind by Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith as hosts Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond watch on.

But as the technical challenge simply gives bakers a very cut-down recipe, you might be interested to find out how to bake your own school cake.

Fortunately, the basic sponge is easy to make at home with just a few simple ingredients. Even if you're far from a star baker, you should be able to create a school cake that gets a passing grade.

For this recipe, you need:

200g butter

200g sugar

4 large eggs

50ml of milk

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

200g icing sugar

Coloured hundreds and thousands (also known as sprinkles)

And optional hot custard to serve.

Heat the oven to 180C, then butter a 20cm by 30cm cake tin and line with greaseproof paper. Put the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, flour, milk and vanilla and beat again until smooth.

Then scrape the mix into the tin, spread into the corners and pop in the oven for 45 minutes.

Leave the sponge to cool on a wire rack.

Finally, mix the icing sugar with enough water to make a thick icing and spread it over the cooled cake before throwing on generous helpings of sprinkles. Leave it for an hour to set, then cut into squares and to add a final touch, serve with hot custard,

According to Baking With Granny, school cake is 'always a hit'. It says: "Instantly recognisable, this basic sponge is topped with a layer of icing and a generous amount of sprinkles. And that's it... nothing overly fancy, but delicious enough to have an entire dinner hall of kids buzzing with excitement, and praying there will be at least enough cake until their spot in the line."

It also adds that using room temperature ingredients makes for a better cake: "Ensure your margarine/butter and eggs are at room temperature before starting. This helps the batter mix more evenly and will give a better, more predictable rise."