Today A-Yueh and Daddy had a baking morning and cooked up a Victoria Sponge cake . . .
After gathering the necessary ingredients, the first step is to grease the tin with a little melted butter and then line it with oven paper.
To make the cake mix, just put all of the sugar, flour, butter, baking powder and eggs in to a large mixing bowl and mix them. If you have small eggs, you may need three instead of two and a little more flour.
… and this is where we got stuck: Daddy hadn’t realised that we did not have any baking powder left - so we made a mid-cook expedition to the shops to buy some more (masks on, COVID tracing app on, shop entry SMS registration, disinfect hands, change in to new clothes, and back to the cake)
A 1” rolling pin makes a great mixing stick because it’s easy for smaller hands to hold firmly and it doesn’t catch clumps of material like a wooden spoon would. Keep mixing until you have a smooth consistency that easily slides off the mixing stick/spoon. Avoid over mixing.
When you have a smooth mix, pour it out in to the lined cake tin and spread it out evenly. The top will iron itself out in the oven, so you don’t need to smooth the top perfectly.
To make the cake filling we mixed up some natural yoghurt, honey, and some homemade blueberry, blackberry & raspberry jam. The ratio was roughly 1:1:1 by volume but you can use whatever you prefer for the filling
With a pre-heated 180°C conventional oven the cake will be ready in about 20 minutes. It’s done when it’s golden brown and the sides have come away from the tin. Let it cool for five minutes in the tin before tipping it out.
Today we made a hemispherical cake by cutting one round piece of sponge in two to form the top and the bottom layer. If you want to make a whole round cake remember to make double the amount of cake mix and use a second cake tin if your oven is large enough to cook them simultaneously. Spread the filling evenly over one piece of sponge, and pop the second piece of sponge on top.
There we have it: The finished honey-berry jam Victoria Sponge cake. Of course, it’s chef’s privilege to tidy-up any left over cake filling! Happy Dragon Boat Festival!
A-Yueh’s cake ingredients:
- 110g butter
- 110g flour
- 110g sugar
- Two large eggs
- 1½ teaspoons of baking powder
N.B. This makes one 8” round sponge layer, which we cut in to two to form the top and the bottom of a hemispherical cake. If you want to make a round 360° cake, use double amounts and bake two layers of sponge!
For the filling:
- Honey
- Unsweetened yoghurt
- Fruit jam
Ratio is about 1:1:1 and you only need enough to fill the cake!
Equipment:
- 8” round cake tin
- Oven paper
- Big mixing bowl
- Mixing spoon (or an inch diameter rolling pin)
- Cake mix spatula
- Weighing scales
- Silicone baking brush (or a bit of oven paper will suffice)