The Perfect Victoria Sponge (Baking)

Name: princesslaura

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Product:	Baking
Date:	06/06/08 (93 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: very yummy!

Disadvantages: none

A decent Victoria Sponge is a baking staple. I've got the preparation down to about 12 minutes so it really is something that you can make in a hurry.

This recipe makes a 30 x 25 cm cake, which is pretty big. I usually make up this amount of mixture as half of it is enough to make a small sponge and you can use the extra to make fairy cakes, Once cooked this cake can be frozen and then defrosted when needed.

I use all organic ingredients when I make this cake, which of course does make it a little more expensive to produce. It is still nowhere near the cost of buying a decent birthday cake from the supermarket. I estimate that to make a cake of this size would cost about £4, using organic ingredients from Tesco.

- INGREDIENTS -

350g of melted butter [melting the butter makes mixing an awful lot easier]

350g caster sugar

6 large eggs

350g self raising flour

A teaspoon of natural vanilla extract [please don't use flavouring! The extract is a little more expensive but is natural and so much better for you than all the chemicals in the flavouring]

Milk

Jam or chocolate spread for the middle

Icing sugar to dust

- METHOD -

Preheat the oven to 180

Use butter to grease tins. I would recommend using proper Victoria sandwich tins. You can get some very clever ones now with clips on the side which open the tin up so that you don't need to worry about your cake being damaged when you take it out.

I recommend weighing all your ingredients out before starting mixing. Many is the time that I haven't done this and have discovered halfway through making a cake that I am missing something. Cue frantic knocking on neighbours' doors begging for ingredients!

Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat.

Cream the butter and the sugar together.

Beat in the eggs one at a time. I always just use a wooden spoon for this. I do have a mixer but I find it makes more work as it takes ages to wash it up afterwards.

Sieve the flour into the mixture.

Next add the vanilla extract and a couple of tablespoons of milk. At this point I change to a hand whisk to ensure that the mixture is really light. There should be some bubbles on the surface.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tins and pop in the oven. For mixture in sandwich tins I would advise about 20 minutes cooking time. Obviously you'll need longer if you are just using a normal cake tin [about 45 minutes].

When the cakes are ready they should be lightly brown. They should be well risen and firm to the touch. You can always stick a knife in the middle to check that they are cooked all through. If the knife comes out clean then the cake is ready.

Turn the cakes out onto a wire rack to cool.

Once cool you can put jam or chocolate spread on the bottom of one cake half and then put the other half on top. If you have made one big cake then simply use a serrated knife to cut it in half and then place the filling inside.

Sprinkle the top of the cake with icing sugar and serve.

TIP: I often leave the cake without filling so that everyone can choose what they would like for their pieces. This is particularly useful if you are serving the cake for little people who can be rather fussy about what's inside their cake!

Summary: a simple recipe which produces a great result!