Time for a classic

I had a tub of double cream about to go out of date, but happily, I fancied baking today - and what's more, I had Fiona as my glamorous assistant* :o). What better time to revisit a classic that I've not baked in many, many years. Time for a Victoria Sponge!

*By which I really mean Fiona did all the work.

Victoria Sponge
Ingredients

• 85g Salted butter
• 145g Unsalted butter**
• 230g Caster sugar
• 4 Eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 230g Plain flour
• 3 tsp Baking powder
• ~3 tbsp Milk
• 200ml Double cream
• 115g Gooseberry jam***

Method

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy.
2. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract, a little at a time.
3. Sift the flour and baking powder and fold in to the mixture a little at a time.
4. Let down to a dropping consistency with the milk.
5. Pour into two greased and floured sandwich tins and bake at 180C for ~20 minutes.
6. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
7. Beat the cream.
8. Sandwich the cakes together with the double cream and jam.

**No, I didn't run out this time, I was just using up the leftover salted butter from the last time around!

***I probably wouldn't have opted for gooseberry jam specifically, were it not for the fact that I didn't have any strawberry/raspberry jam, but did have a cute little jar of gooseberry jam that had been Phil and Jess' wedding favours when they got married many years ago. It's specially aged, alright?!

 Here's Fiona doing all the work (did you think I was joking when I said that?).

Ready for the oven! As you can see, I didn't really let the batter down enough, so it's rather stiff. That one's entirely my fault though!

Out of the oven, they're a little dark and a little domed, but not too bad overall.

Getting them out of the tins could have gone better though. In hindsight, lining the bases with baking parchment would have been a good idea.

So I won't win any awards for prettiness with this cake. I might have slightly run out of patience while waiting for the cake to cool...

Actually though, the finished product doesn't look that bad really!

It's a Victoria sponge. Not the most exciting cake in the world, but it's become a classic for a reason. I think Victoria sponges get a bit of a bad rep because of the terrible supermarket versions - they're always pretty, but inevitably dry, bland and disappointing. This one is almost the exact opposite - not even remotely neat, but it's almost succulent. The sponge is moist, and the vanilla really comes through. The jam gives a nice zing (the gooseberry gives a bit more interest flavourwise than strawberry would have), while the fresh cream just smooths it all over. A Victoria sponge will never be my favourite cake, but a good edition is still worth baking. This one is a pretty decent one, I'd say!