I am enjoying a quiet Saturday as I sit and write this. Usually at the weekends, I like to bake a cake or some such. Sometimes it will be a fancy cake, especially if we are celebrating something, but more often than not it is a Victoria Sandwich Cake.
In all truth our favourite cake is the simple Victoria Sandwich Cake. That is the one we enjoy eating most of all, and the one I enjoy baking most of all. I know I have shared it with you before, but can you ever share something that you love too many times? I think not . . .
My mother always filled our cakes with jam. With jam in the middle a cake needs no other adornment. My father always loved cake with jam in the middle and it was something we all enjoyed.
Jam is a very versatile ingredient. You can change the flavour of a plain cake such as this just by varying the type of jam you choose to use.
More often than not I will use strawberry, because that is my favourite, along with raspberry which follows a close second, and these are what are the most traditional for this purpose.
Add a bit of lemon zest to the batter before baking and filling it with some wild blueberry jam, and you have yourself another tasty combination.
If you add some freshly grated nutmeg and a bit of vanilla and fill it with peach or apricot jam and your cake is lifted to an entirely different level . . .
And don't get me started on lemon curd. Lemon curd in the middle is another favourite of mine.
In the summer filling this cake with a layer of whipped or clotted cream and sliced strawberries turns this cake a beautiful indulgence . . .
This is a cake that can be as simple as you wish, or as elaborate as you wish and it suits all occasions . . .
It is perfect for cold and dismal, rainy autumn afternoons near the end of September . . . when all you want to do is hunker in with a good book and a hot cuppa . . .
If ever there was a cake that you could consider to be a comfort cake, this is it . . .
Yield: Makes 1 7-inch cake
Victoria Sandwich Cake
Popular during the reign of Queen Victoria, this cake remains popular to this day, which is a huge testament to it's taste and ease of baking!
ingredients:
- 170g of butter (12 TBS,)
- 170g caster sugar (3/4 cup)
- 3 large free range eggs, beaten
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 170g self raising flour (a scant 1 1/4 cups)
To finish:
- strawberry or raspberry jam
- caster sugar or powdered sugar to dust on top
instructions:
How to cook Victoria Sandwich Cake
- Butter and base line two 7 inch sandwich tins. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.
- Sift the flour together with the baking powder.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light in colour and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, a little at a time, beating well after each addition. If the mixture begins to curdle, add a spoonful of the flour.
- Fold in the flour with a metal spoon, taking care to use a cutting motion so as not to knock out too much of the air that you have beaten into the batter. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake tins, levelling off the surface. Make a slight dip in the centre of each.
- Bake on a centre rack of the oven for about 25 minutes, or until the sponges have risen well, are golden brown, and spring back when lightly touched. Allow to cool in the pan for five minutes before running a knife carefully around the edges and turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cooled, place one layer on a cake plate. Spread with raspberry jam. Place the other cake on top, pressing down lightly. Dust with icing or caster sugar and cut into wedges to serve.
If I am lucky this will last us several days, but since it is a favourite of both of us, I don't expect that it will be around much longer that. Quick, easy and delicious. Qualities that are pretty hard to beat!
Up Tomorrow: Fried Egg Sandwiches (brought forward from the other day)
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