Victoria Sponge

I'm not posting this now because of Wimbledon, or because it's the season for berries. I'm posting this now because I actually had the chance to take pictures of a beautifully finished cake before it was scoffed down. I have been making Victoria Sponges for as long as I have been baking, but they were not pretty when I first started making them. I would over-whip the cream, over stuff with berries and the sponges were bulky. There has even been an instance where I added too much cream, sat the top sponge on top and had all my filling ooze out (that was last year). But as time has gone on, I've learnt how to whip the cream to a yoghurt thickness, add the appropriate amount of berries and leave all my ingredients out to get to room temperature so I get a moist, light and delicate sponge. It may have taken 10 years, but I present to you the best Victoria Sponge cake I have ever made. My sisters ask for Victoria Sponge every year for their birthday and even they noticed the difference in look and texture. As I said before, you must leave all the ingredients out to get to room temperature, not just the butter. The eggs and milk were all left out and it actually made mixing the batter quicker and easier too. This one is strawberry flavoured, but I have done raspberry before. The great thing about this cake is that you can make it any flavour that you wish, just make sure you use the matching flavoured jam. This cake definitely taught me to follow baking instructions to a T. 

To start I buttered two 21cm/8" sandwich tins and lined the bottom with greaseproof paper. The oven was pre-heated to 180 degrees. 

I put very soft butter and sugar in the standalone mixer and creamed them until they were pale and fluffy.

It looked like I had whipped double cream, they were that light and fluffy!

To this, a teaspoon of vanilla extract was added and quickly mixed in. 

I then measured out 200g of self-raising flour and added 25g of cornflour to it. This is what makes the cake super light and spongy. If you were to make this in a processor like Nigella does, you would then add an extra teaspoon of baking powder. This is because the air would be knocked out of the batter in a food processor, so it needs to be replaced with a double whammy of rise (self-raising flour already contains baking powder). 

Back to the creamed butter and sugar, I cracked in an egg, mixed this in fully and then put in a tablespoon of flour and mixed again. I continued with this, alternating between egg and flour until every egg was added. The remaining flour was then folded in and the batter doubled in volume. 

Three tablespoons of milk were mixed in and the batter was done - a very easy recipe. 

The finished result was equally divided into the two sandwich tins and baked for 25 minutes.

After they came out of the oven, they were left to cool completely. 

When they had cooled, it was time to start on the filling. I sliced one punnet of strawberries. A punnet is just one pack of berries, around 200g. 

I then lightly whipped double cream with a hand whisk.

Unlike Nigella, I jam both layers of cake because everybody deserves to be overindulged and why not?

On top of the first layer of jammy spongy goodness went a nice flat layer of the sliced strawberries. I have just tumbled all the strawberries on in the past, and it didn't make the top layer sit comfortably. So you will need to make everything come together like a puzzle.

The strawberries were then tucked in with the softly whipped double cream.

The final cake layer was then placed on top, jam side down and caster sugar sprinkled on top.

I must confess, that when I see Victoria Sponges in shops and on TV, they don't look appetising. And if you feel the same way, don't be put off a wonderful bake. This is an effortless recipe with great results, and when the cake finished the next day, the only thing stopping me from making it again was the fact we were out of cream and strawberries. My sisters are twins, and I should have made two, one for each of them. But I thought, they shared a womb, they can share a cake. Well, there's always next year.

Serves: 6-8 people

Prep Time: 20 minutes 

Baking Time: 25 minutes 

Ingredients:

    For the Cake:

• 225g Unsalted Butter, very soft
• 225g Caster Sugar
• 1tsp Vanilla Extract 
• 200g Self-raising Flour
• 25g Cornflour 
• 4 Eggs, at room temperature 
• 3-4tbsp Milk

    For the Filling:

• 1 Punnet of Strawberries or any berry of your choice 
• 150ml Double Cream 
• 2-4tbsp of Strawberry Jam or any jam of your choice

    For the Topping:

• 1-2tsp Caster Sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and butter and line two 21cm sandwich tins with greaseproof paper. 
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until they are pale and fluffy with either a wooden spoon, electric hand whisk or standalone mixer. Once creamed, add in the vanilla extract. 
3. In a small bowl, put in the self-raising flour and cornflour and combine. 
4. In the creamed bowl, crack in an egg, mix it in, and then add a tablespoon of the flour mix and incorporate this into the batter. Continue this egg, flour, egg process until you've added in all four eggs. Fold in the rest of the flour and pour in the milk.
5. Spoon equal amounts of the batter into the prepared tins and bake for 25 minutes. Test the cakes are ready with a skewer or knife - they should come out clean when ready. Leave the cakes to cool completely. 
6. When ready to assemble, clean and slice the strawberries. Whip the cream until it's thickened to a soft yoghurt consistency. 
7. Take the bottom layer cake and place it on your serving plate. Jam this bottom layer and then arrange the strawberry slices to make a nice, flat even layer on top of the jam. Pour the soft double cream over the strawberries. Jam the top cake layer and place this jam side down on top of the cream. Finally, sprinkle the top of the cake with caster sugar. You can arrange any spare strawberries you have on top if you wish, serve them on the side or just chow down on them!