Lucy’s Victoria Sponge..

One of the great joys of sharing recipes is having people react to them. My recipes are simple ones; written for family and friends to enjoy, without stressing out the cook. If someone who doesn’t often cook uses of one of my recipes, and it works for them, then I’m really happy!

And sometimes I get something back – Gillian from work, having successfully tried a couple of my recipes, decided to give her cousin’s Victoria Sponge a go – and we all enjoyed young Lucy’s delicious Victoria sponge when it was shared in the staffroom. We do love our cake..!

This is a deliciously light cake, with a lovely open texture which I’m assured is due to the lengthy creaming of the butter and sugar, long past it’s usual creaming time. I also love the use of Mascarpone instead of butter cream. Mr Sat. Night is not a fan of buttercream, so this is perfect for him!

So here is Lucy’s, then Gillian’s, and now my, recipe..

See NOTES at the end of the recipe for my seriously successful Easter version of this great cake!

 

 

 

 

 

EQUIPMENT:

• 2 x 8 inch (20cm) sponge tins, sides buttered, base lined
• Electric beater
• A sieve
• weighing scales
• Metal spoon or silicone spatula, for folding in.

INGREDIENTS:

• 250g Marg. (see NOTES)
• 250g golden caster sugar
• 5 eggs – they should weigh about 250g too (see NOTES)
• 250g  SR flour

For the filling:

• 200g mascarpone
• A tablespoon or so of icing sugar.
• OPTIONAL: finely grated lemon zest, Vanilla extract.
• Strawberry jam (see NOTES)

METHOD:

• Heat the oven to 160 degrees fan
• Butter your sponge tins, and line the bases.

• Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy – then give this 5 minutes more beating after you think it’s done

• Add 3 of the eggs, one at a time, and make sure each is completely incorporated before adding the next.

• Add 4tblsp flour, and beat it in.
• Then add the last 2 eggs, again, one at a time.
• In my case the batter starts to look a little curdled at this stage, but fear not, help is at hand with the addition of the last of the flour..

• Sift in the remaining flour in batches, and incorporate it gently but thoroughly. Try not to knock too much air out.

• Divide equally between the two sponge tins, level them out. (I always weigh them on a digital scales, as I can never tell if the dishes are equally filled)
• Bake until risen and golden about 25 minutes (mine took 30 minutes today; I also swapped the tins around in the oven 10 minutes before the end)
• Remove and cool on a wire tray.

FILLING:

• When the cakes are fully cold, put the mascarpone into a bowl and mix with a spoon until it’s looking more spreadable. I like to add a teaspoon or so of sugar and in this case, some fresh lemon zest. You can use a capful of vanilla extract if you prefer.

•  Put one of the sponges onto a serving plate.

• Spread the Mascarpone on evenly, then spread on some jam (in this picture I’m using lemon and Elderflower Curd), then sandwich the sponges together.

• Sift a little icing sugar onto the top of the sponge if you’re feeling fancy!

Variations:

 

NOTES:

• The original recipe called for Margarine, but I use Golden Cow, from the tub, which is a mixture of vegetable oils and butter. Use margarine if that’s what you always use.
• When I weighed my 5 large eggs, the weight was 285g, not the 250g required. This leads me to believe that medium eggs were originally used in this recipe. A good friend of mine, who is a really amazing baker, says that she always weighs her eggs, so if it’s good enough for her, it’s good enough for me. Bottom line, I used the 285g of eggs and the cake was fine
• The extra time given to the creaming of the sugar and butter is definitely worth it.
• The Mascarpone is a lovely change from the usual butter cream – and if course it can be flavoured with a little vanilla extract, a spoonful of icing sugar or even some finely grated lemon zest. If you’re using the lemon zest, you could think about using Lemon Curd instead of the Strawberry jam in the filling. Like I did here –

• This makes a really robust, good-sized cake, perfect for a group of people, and there are endless experiments you can make to change it about, while still keeping the basic recipe the same.

• EASTER version : This was a pure fluke on my part, but I had made my delicious lemon Curd https://eatingforireland.com/recipe/home-made-lemon-curd/ , I had some recently purchased Easter chicks, and a bottle of Yellow food dye.. can you see where this going?
• A quick word about food dye – use it really sparingly, or your delicate Easter cake will look like it’s been tangoed! I dipped the tip of a knife into the food dye, then mixed it in really well before I considered adding another drop. I think this cake could have done with another drop or two of food dye, but I was happy enough with the result. Don’t forget to go to town with your decorations – chicks, chocolate eggs, sprinkles – the sky’s the limit!!

 

 

• Summer Version: I sandwiched this version together with a huge dollop of my own Strawberry jam in the middle – as you can see, my Strawberry jam was more than a little runny – but it so delicious when freshly (made as this was) that I think I can be forgiven!!