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I had a tub of double cream about to go out of date, but happily, I fancied baking today - and what's more, I had Fiona as my glamorous assistant* :o).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!

Bank holiday baking

It's a bank holiday! I've completed my DIY projects for the long weekend, which means that it's definitely time to get baking :o). Today's recipe: Snickerdoodles. It's essentially this one from Serious Eats, but without coconut oil (so in effect, it's crossed with this recipe).

Snickerdoodles
Ingredients

For the biscuits:

• 40g Unsalted butter
• 160g Salted butter*
• 200g Caster sugar
• 100g Granulated sugar**
• 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1 Egg
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 325g Plain flour

For the coating:

• 60g Caster sugar
• 10g(!) Ground cinnamon

Method

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy.
2. Beat in the vanilla extract and egg.
3. Incorporate the baking powder and flour.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the caster sugar and cinnamon together.
5. Roll the dough into 2-3cm diameter balls and coat in the sugar/cinnamon mix.
6. Flatten slightly onto a baking tray and bake at 200C for 5 minutes then reduce temperature to 175C and bake for a further 5 minutes.
7. Sprinkle with some of the leftover sugar/cinnamon mix. Allow to cool on the tray for a few minutes before moving.

*In case you hadn't already guessed, I ran out of butter and had to make do with what they had in the corner shop at the end of my road, which meant salted butter. Happily though, the salted butter is 2% salt, which means that this is effectively ~3g salt; pretty much what I would have added separately.
**Yes, I ran out of caster sugar as well. How did you know?

Apparently, I've angered the gods of baking recently. Apart from the (not altogether unusual) running out of key ingredients, my usual kitchen scales threw a bit of a fit and started reading around half the correct weight. Happily, I did notice, but not before thinking that I'd been cheated by the corner shop and bought a "200g" block of butter that only weighed 100g... (I've since removed the batteries and put them back in and now my scales are back to normal).

Here are the balls of dough before coating. Obviously, I didn't bake them this close together on the trays. Don't they look satisfying?

Ready for the oven. I thought I'd try a little experiment - the bottom right tray have an extra dusting of the sugar/cinnamon mixture, while the other two trays only had as much as would stick to the dough.

 I have got to get myself some bigger baking trays! But don't they look good? The ones with extra dusting have come out a little darker than the others, but aren't burnt. I think they're pretty gorgeous personally!

But as ever, what counts is how it tastes. While still warm from the oven, I snaffled my first taste - they've got a lovely texture - a great outer crunch coupled with a melt-in-the-mouth soft interior - and the cinnamon tastes great! The actual dough itself is (unsurprisingly) bland though, so it's all about the cinnamon on the outside. There's surprisingly little difference between the ones where I put an extra (thin) layer of sugar/cinnamon on the top before baking, but they're really helped by the post-baking sprinkle.

Truth be told though, I think they're actually too rich. The biscuits are so butter-and-sugar-heavy, you start feeling slightly queasy after only one and a half of them. They're nice - actually a bit better once they've cooled and are a bit firmer - but just a bit too buttery for my tastes. I suspect they'll go down a storm in the lab tomorrow though!