VICTORIA SPONGE
The classic Victoria Sponge has to be, by far, my favourite kind of cake. To be fair though my repertoire of cakes is not pretty much non-existent but (!!) out of the few different cakes I have tried, this is the one that makes my mouth water and causes me to embrace my body as it is as I work my way through the whole thing; for the chance to have at least two generous slice of it is worth the extra kilos it is sure add to the scales.
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I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to make this. I had a "bring and share" event to go to and normally I would chicken out and buy something from the store but that weekend I decided to challenge myself and believe in my cooking skills. Clearly I chose to bring something for dessert and I am proud to say everyone really liked it. I did have a minor panic attack when I realised there was no way for me to make sure the cake was edible before unveiling it at the party but when someone commented on how yummy it was my heart rate returned back to normal and I vowed to endeavour to try more recipes. The recipe I followed was the easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy one from the BBC Good Food website. I suggest you don't look at how many calories a serving of this cake is. Trust me when I say this- it ain't a pretty number so just savour the taste of your cake and finish that slice (or 3) with a smile on your face.
What you need For the sponge: 4 eggs, 200g of Self-Raising Flour, 200g of Caster Sugar, 200g of softened butter, 1 tsp of Baking Powder and 2 tbsp of milk.
For the filling: 140g of Icing Sugar (sifted), 100g of softened butter, a drop of vanilla extract, a 340g jar of yummy strawberry jam of your choice and some icing sugar to decorate.
Method
The sponge: Add all the ingredients listed above in a bowl and whisk away. Pour contents into your 20cm sandwich tins (if it is a non-stick tin feel free to line it with a little bit of butter or use a baking sheet) evenly, smooth surface with a spatula/back of a spoon and place it in your oven which should be set to 190 oC. Leave it in for about 20 mins until they are golden and spring back when poked. Then pop 'em on a cooling rack to cool. And if yours end up having bumps like mind, have no fear. It only adds to their character hehe.
P.S. Don't worry if you don't have two sandwich tins, I did mine one at a time :)
The filling: Add the ingredients listed above minus the jam in a bowl and whisk away. This can be done whilst your cake is in the oven. Once the sponges are completely cool, whack on the filling on one of them; whack on the jam on the other; smoosh the two together; sprinkle some icing sugar on top and voila!
P.S. I did not end up using all the jam as I felt it was too much so feel free to use as much as you like!
And when your Victoria Sponge is sitting as elegantly as a cake can on a nice clean plate, grab the bowl you made your filling in, sit down, pop the telly on and start licking the contents of that bowl. Do not even pretend that the thought won't cross your mind.
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So, for those of you out there who are looking to venture into the tricky, stressful and yet highly satisfying world of baking, the classic Victoria Sponge is not a bad a recipe to try first... if you like it that is. Now, if some kind soul could point me in the direction of a "clean" version of this recipe I would be so grateful.
What are you baking in your oven?
Mo xx