When I heard along the grapevine he was going to popping to the local centre, I knew I had to honor the visit by making something. I heard he was going to be stopping in for a cup of tea, so I decided to bake a cake for all to enjoy and played it relatively safe with a Classic Victoria Sponge. Baking really does sooth me therefore on the Saturday evening I got all the ingredients out ready to create!
For the cake
200g caster sugar
200g softened butter
4 beaten eggs
200g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp milk The filling 100g butter or marg 140g icing sugar drop vanilla extract (I always use Neilsen-Massey Vanilla Bean paste) 340g strawberry jam icing sugar
First thing I did was got all my ingredients measured out, then pre heated the oven to 190C and prepared two 20cm sandwich tins.
Once this was sorted I began mixing all the items needed for the cake together until it was a smooth batter.
I split the mixture evenly between the two cake tins and popped them into the oven, I cooked these for 20 minutes then put them on a cooling rack.
Now the next part is always my most favorite part, because it tastes amazing and really seals the deal with a well made Victoria Sponge...that's right its the filling!
I started by beating the butter until it was completely creamy then introduced the sugar and Neilsen-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste...just to add I did pop a little amount in my cake mixture too. Once my cakes were cool enough I used a spatula and spread the butter cream over the bottom of one of the sponges, on went the jam and then last but not least the other sponge placed on top.
I placed the cake on my cake stand and finished it off by sprinkling icing sugar on the top. Ta-da! So there you have it my victoria sponge! It's always great to try new things with cooking, but we have classics for a reason and this type of cake is a true classic! A slice and a pot of tea? Oh go on then!
