RECIPES: Barry Lewis' Victoria sponge cupcakes as featured on ITV's Food Glorious Food

Weston-super-Mare father of two Barry Lewis only started cooking in 2010 when he poached an egg and posted the video on YouTube.

Since then, he has posted more than 400 videos via his My Virgin Kitchen website, many of him cooking with his four-year-old daughter Phoebe.

Until he started his website and blog, Barry couldn't cook a single dish and relied on his girlfriend Rebecca to cook all the family meals.

It was only watching a Jamie Oliver Christmas show that inspired him to get into the kitchen and have a go himself.

"We were watching Jamie Oliver's Christmas show and he was cooking a big family meal," says Barry. "Then he poached an egg and I thought it looked easy enough even for me to try. That was enough to inspire me to teach myself to cook and pick up a camera to film my journey."

In the two years since he started My Virgin Kitchen, he has cooked a variety of dishes, from shepherds pie and creamy chicken to bacon fusilli to the more ambitious "Diet Coke chicken" and "homemade McDonald McRib".

Barry recently appeared on ITV's new Food Glorious Food programme presented by Carol Vorderman. The show, which is a joint production between Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment company and Optomen Television, is a nationwide search for Britain's best-loved recipe.

Barry appeared on the show making Victoria sponge cupcakes using homemade jam.

"This cupcake recipe is one I enjoy making with my daughter," says Barry, who by day is a quantity surveyor in the construction industry.

"The thing that makes this recipe really special is the fact I make my own homemade strawberry jam to put inside the cupcakes."

Food Glorious Food Mitchell Beazley, £25. Watch Barry's latest videos at www.myvirginkitchen.com.

Ingredients – makes 12 cupcakes

500g (1lb) jam

160g (5.25oz) soft butter, plus extra for greasing

160g (5.25oz) caster sugar

3 eggs, beaten

160g (5.25oz) self-raising flour

2 tbsp semi-skimmed milk

275ml (9fl oz) double cream

2 tbsp icing sugar, plus extra for dusting

strawberries for decoration

For the strawberry jam – makes 500g (1lb) jam

400g (13oz) strawberries, hulled

340g (11.25 oz) jam sugar

15g (0.5oz) butter

Method

First make the jam. Put the strawberries into a saucepan, mash roughly, then cook over a low heat for 10 minutes.

Add the sugar and stir continuously until it dissolves. Add the butter and stir constantly over a high heat until the mixture is boiling and extremely thick.

Continue boiling and stirring for three-four minutes, then pour immediately into sterilised jars.

Seal and allow to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for a few hours or until set.

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Butter a 12-hole cupcake tray or line the holes with paper cases.

To make the cakes, put the butter and sugar in a bowl and cream together until light and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs, then sift in the flour, stir well, and add the milk.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared cupcake tray and bake in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes, or until the cakes are springy to the touch.

Set aside until cold.

Pour the cream into a clean bowl and whisk into soft peaks.

Gradually sift in the icing sugar, whisking until the cream is thick and can be spooned neatly. Refrigerate until the cakes are cold.

To serve, cut through the cupcakes horizontally – either one cut through the middle, about 2.5cm (1in) from the base, or, if you want more substantial cakes (perhaps for dads), make a second cut just below the "lid".

Fill the cuts with different combinations of jam and cream. There's no set rule here, so be creative and have fun.

Finish with a dusting of icing sugar and decorate with sliced strawberries.