Normally when making a simple sponge mix, I just go with the 6,6,6 (nothing sinister just 6oz of flour, butter and sugar). But I thought it would be more interesting if I followed a recipe so then I could let you guys know how sucessful I thought it was and how easy it was to follow.
I went with Delia Smith's One Mix Victoria Sponge from her Cookery Course book.
This recipe is 4oz as opposed to 6oz, with 2 large eggs as well as a teaspoon of baking powder, a few drops of vanilla extract. I'll add here that the flour is self-raising, and I prefer using organic flour and I find Dove's Farm flour the most superior.
Ok, so the trickiest part of making a cake, for me, is lining it. This is to stop the cake from sticking to the tin, however because the mixture was in a smaller quanitity I had to use smaller 7inch tins which were very tricky to line.
First off grease the tin, you can use oil but I find it easier to use butter papers (if you want to bake regularly it is worth keeping your butter papers in a bag in the fridge). Then line the bottom of the tin by tracing the tin. To line the sides you are meant to cut a strip of greaseproof paper, fold it back about and inch, cut at a slight angle to give it a fringe then sit it inside the tin. However, with tins so small I found lining the edges really hard with only two hands, so I decided to only line the bottom and just flour the sides.
The rest is really straightforward, sieve the flour into a bowl and cream with the butter - (use an electronic handwhisk if you want to save a lot of time and energy). Then add everything else, (eggs, flour, vanilla extract) and mix again. I found it a bit too stiff afterwards so I added a few drops of milk and it was done. To give it a bit of a citrus twist I grated the zest of a small lime into it.
I then split it between the two tins, and placed them in my rayburn for twenty minutes, turning them occasionally.
Once both cakes were thoroughly cooled, I spread a thick layer of raspberry jam between them and sandwiched them together and dusted icing sugar on the top.
Side Notes
You can substitute
butter for margerine or something similar if you wish, butter gives it more taste, however margerine can actually make it a lighter sponge.Use the best quality jam and vanilla extract for the best results, I recommend Bon Maman jam and Nielson Massey extracts.
I used duck eggs for my sponge because my ducks are laying like crazy, but obviously anything free range is the way to go.
In a normal gas oven it could take around 40 minutes to cook, my rayburn just cooks things really quickly.
Once out of the oven transfer onto a cooling tray and do not touch, hot cake crumbles at the slightest touch.
Evaluating the Recipe
This recipe is really simple, and the 'one mix' element is pretty foolproof. The cake is really small though, and I would recommend doubling the quantities. But overall a really easy cake to make and delicious too.
