Saturday 19 February 2011

Mahoosive Vicky Sponge from MasterChef W.I Episode

This is the recipe for the now infamous Victoria Sponge i made for the Womens Institure episode of MasterChef.  Its a British Classic and was named after Queen Victoria, who favored a slice of the sponge cake with her afternoon tea.  Theres nothing special to it, its a cake in its simplest form however its the method you need to get right.  Adding things in a particular way and not overbeating the mix are golden rules which cant be broken during this cake!  Enjoy!

The recipe below is for 1 cake to be cut in half and filled, however if im being honest, the one i did at the WI and how i do it at home is to double the quantities below and sandwich two massive cakes together! 


Ingredients
Makes 2 cakes to be sandwiched together to serve aprox 8 slices

225g unsalted butter
225g caster sugar
200g self raising flour
25g corn flour if you don’t have corn flour just use all self raising
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (don’t use essence its rubbish and tastes of chemicals)
4 large free range eggs beaten
1 tea spoon of baking powder

Method
Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas mark 4
Butter 2 20cm spring form of loose bottomed cake tins, if you don’t have either just line a normal 20cm cake tin with baking parchment so the cake can be easily released.If you only have 1 tin, dont worry just whack all the mix in 1 tin and increase the cooking time by 10 minutes.
SO.....Use a hand mixer to cream the butter and the sugar together until pale.
crack the eggs into a seperate bowl and lightly whisk to break up
Beat in the eggs a little at a time, probably 3 additions should be fine.
Sift over the flours and baking powder and fold in using a large metal spoon or spatular.

The mixture should be of a dropping consistency - if it isn't, add a little milk.
Divide the mixture between the cake tins and gently spread out with a spatula.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until an inserted skewer comes out clean.  If you have only done 1 cake it'll take around 35-40 minutes.
Allow to stand for 5 minutes before turning on to a wire rack to cool.
Tip the first cake upside down so your working on a level surface which is better for the filling.
Fill the cake with jam, lemon curd or whipped cream and berries.

Whack the top of the cake on, dust with icing sugar and serve with a nice cuppa.

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