Classic Victoria Sponge

I've been looking for the perfect Victoria Sponge recipe for a while now, and I've finally found one. Funnily enough it wasn't in a fancy cookery book or on a well known website. My mum gets The Telegraph on a Saturday and sometimes they give away free cooking booklets and a while ago they had a one by the River Cottage. And it's brilliant! It's got a mixture of unusual cakes, the classics and new cakes to try. So I thought I'd give it a go and cook it for my acting company's tea break- Epsom Light Opera Company. (Visit our website: http://www.eloc.org.uk/) They were all very impressed and it went down a treat!

For the Sponge:
175g (6oz) Self Raising Flour, Sifted
Pinch of Salt
175g (6oz) Butter, Softened (I use Stork Margarine)
175g (6oz) Caster Sugar
3 Eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat the oven to 180^oC/356^oF/Gas Mark 4. Grease 2 x 8inch tins and line the bottom with baking parchment/ Greaseproof paper.

In a bowl, beat the butter until creamy. For best results use an electric hand whisk. Add the caster sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is very light and creamy. This will help to blend the eggs.


Add 1 egg and a tbsp of flour and beat thoroughly. The flour helps to prevent the mixture from curdling. Repeat for the remaining 2 eggs. Mix in the vanilla extract with the last egg.


Fold in the rest of the flour until all is combined. The mixture should drop off the spoon easily when tapped against the side of the bowl. If not, add 1-2 spoonfuls of hot water.


Divide the mixture evenly between the two cake tins and bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown and will spring back when lightly pressed with a finger. Leave them to cool in their tins for a couple of minutes and then turn them out onto a wire cooling rack.


For the Filling:
60g Butter, room temperature
125g Icing Sugar, Sifted (Plus extra for later)
Strawberry Jam

Beat the butter until creamy. Add a third of the icing sugar and beat well. Repeat for the remaining icing sugar. Spread butter icing on top of the bottom layer. Spread a layer of jam onto the bottom of the other cake and sandwich together. To finish, sprinkle with icign sugar.

Variations can include:

• Using a different flavour jam
• Filling the cake with sliced strawberries and whipped cream
• Replacing the jam with lemon curd and adding lemon juice and zest into the cake mixture
• Replacing 25g of flour with Cocoa powder and replacing 25g of the icing sugar with cocoa powder to create a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream

Happy Baking! 

x

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