First Stop: England- Victoria Sandwich

A Little History:

The Victoria Sponge is classed a traditional British Cake. 

It was first made during the reign of Queen Victoria, who always fancied a piece of sponge cake with a little jam for her afternoon tea , therefore the cake was named "Victoria Sandwich". There are many ways in which the Victoria Sandwich is made and filled, some people put jam and buttercream between the two slices of sponge while others add whipped cream, some dust with caster sugar, others with icing sugar. The Woman's Institute however state that for a sponge to be classed as a Victoria Sandwich, it must have raspberry jam between the two pieces of cake and be dusted with caster sugar. I choose to fill my cake with this as I prefer the taste and texture as sometimes butter cream can make me feel a little poorly afterwards. 

Victoria Sandwich:

Ingredients:

• 200 grams/ 7oz of plain flour
• 200 grams/ 7 oz of caster sugar
• 200 grams/ 7 oz of butter/ margarine
• 2 drops of vanilla extract
• 4 eggs (large)
• 2 teaspoons (tsp) of baking powder

You will also need:

• Two 20 cm round tins
• Greaseproof Paper
• Electric Scales
• A butter knife
• Electric beater (or a VERY strong arm!!!)
• A pencil
• Spatula 
• Apron 

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (350F) or gas mark 4, what ever your oven type is. Get your greaseproof paper and your pencil, draw around your cake tins, then cut out  your template of the cake tins. Grease the cake tins with a little butter/ margarine then put your template in the bottom of the tin, set these aside for later.

 












2. Put the butter/ margarine and caster sugar into your bowl and beat until light and creamy.

 3. Add half of the flour, two of the eggs and the vanilla to the bowl and beat well. Once all the flour has been beaten in, add the rest of the flour, eggs and the baking powder to the mix, then beat again until all incorporated, if there is flour up the sides, scrap with a spatula and beat lightly.

 4.  Separate the mixture evenly between the two tins, flatten with a spatula and then place in the oven for approximatly 30 minutes.

 5. After thirty minutes, check if the cakes are done by placing a skewer in the middle of both sponges and if it comes out clean then it is done. If the cakes are done, they should also shrink away from the sides of the tin. Take them out of the oven and leave them to cool in their tins.

 6. Once cool, turn out on to a wire rack and leave for five minutes or until completely cold. If the cakes are wonky, don't panic! Level them out with a knife by gently cutting a little off the top.

 7. Take out you raspberry jam and place a generous dollop on one the sponges, spread around until the cake is covered, then place the other sponge on top.

 8. Sprinkle with caster sugar, put the kettle on, sit outside in the sunshine and enjoy the sun!!!

 You can add buttercream, freshly whipped cream, icing sugar, different types of jam, lemon curd and other types of curd (I put passion fruit curd in the middle once, very nice!). I would avoid honey however, difficult to spread as its too runny and it doesn't taste very nice with the vanilla. During the summer, slices of fresh strawberries and whipped cream create a delicous summer garden treat.

Next stop: Scotland! :)

Thanks to Lorraine Pascale for the recipe inspiration!!!  (Baking Made Easy)