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Traditional English Recipe - Victoria Sponge


The Victoria sponge cake was named after Queen Victoria, who favoured a slice of the sponge cake with her afternoon tea. It is often referred to simply as sponge cake, though it contains additional fat. A traditional Victoria sponge consists of jam and whipped cream sandwiched between two sponge cakes; the top of the cake is not iced or decorated, but usually covered with a sifting of castor sugar.

Other names for the Victoria Sponge are Victoria Sandwich and, less commonly, Victorian Cake.

Ingredients

100 g (4 oz) butter
100 g (4 oz) sugar
2 eggs
100 g (4 oz) self-raising flour
a small pinch of salt
50 g (2 oz) Victoria plum or Strawberry jam
300ml (10½ fl oz) double cream, whipped (if wished)
2 tsp Castor sugar

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 350° F (gas mark 4)
  2. Grease and line the bottom of 2 x 7" round cake tins.
  3. Cut up the butter and beat with a wooden spoon until soft.
  4. Cream in the sugar until the mixture is pale and creamy, and the mixture drops easily from the spoon.
  5. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, with 1 tbsp of the flour.
  6. Fold in the remaining flour and the salt, using a metal spoon.
  7. Divide the mixture between the two cake tins.
  8. Bake for 20 mins (Be very careful not to disturb the oven during baking.)
  9. Bake until light brown and firm.
  10. Turn the cake out of the tins and cool on a rack.
  11. Once the cake is cool, sandwich it together with the jam and whipped cream (if wished).
  12. Sprinkle the top with castor sugar.

Definitions

Bake: To cook in an oven.

Beat: To thoroughly combine ingredients and incorporate air with a rapid, circular motion. This may be done with a wooden spoon, wire whisk, rotary eggbeater, electric mixer or food processor.

Cream: To mix fats and sugar together until creamy in appearance.

Fold: A method of gently mixing ingredients. Usually egg whites or whipped cream are folded into a heavier mixture, for a souffle, cake, or pie filling. The lighter mixture is placed on top of the heavier mixture, then the two are combined by passing a spatula down through the mixture, across the bottom, and up over the top. This process continues until the mixtures are combined. This traps air into bubbles in the product, allowing baked goods to rise.

To sprinkle: scatter a powdered ingredient or tiny droplets of a liquid, eg sprinkle the caster sugar over the fruit or sprinkle the brandy over the fruit cake..

 
 
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