Victoria Sponge

Hello again foodie peeps,

Having had a mini-moan about the rubbish British Summer last time, someone seems to have been listening because the last week has been hot Hot HOT!

So today I decided to mix a British summer classic and give it an autumnal twist for this strange summer/autumn weather.

Having made blackberry jam, I decided to use it to fill a Victoria Sandwich. 

Well, here is the basic principle of a Victoria Sandwich...

You can make it in various sizes/amounts depending on the size of your tin or how many eggs you happen to have in your fridge.

The important thing to remember is that your flour, butter and sugar should each weigh the same as your eggs. So, if the 2 eggs you’re using weigh 100g, then you need to weigh out 100g of butter, sugar and flour too. 

Your average medium sized egg weighs around 110g. So bearing that in mind...

110g butter (room temperature)

110g caster sugar

110g self-raising flour

2 eggs

•          Preheat the oven to 170 c.
•          Grease or line 2 sandwich tins (18cm)
•          Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy
•          Then continue to whisk/beat the mixture and add 2 eggs a tiny bit at a time.
•          As you add the egg also add small amounts of the flour too (no more than ¾ of it)
•          Use a metal spoon and gently fold in the remaining flour until combined
•          I’d also recommend adding a few drops of vanilla too
•          If the mixture is a little too thick (it should easily drop off the spoon) then just add a  
      desert spoon of milk
•     Bake for around 25mins
•     Once baked leave for 2 mins to cook slightly. Then turn them out onto wire racks to
      cool.

  

Once cakes are completely cool you can add jam and/or cream and sandwich them together.

·         Dust with icing sugar and enjoy.

Fastest cake in the West? ...Scone!

(Apologies first of all for the title. I have a fiancé fond of 'jokes'!) x

Home for the summer at my parent's house in a quiet sleepy village in Yorkshire, there has been very little call for cooking as the restaurant of Mum/Dad is always in operation. :-)
Yet I could not let the summer pass me by without eating at least one really good scone.

That is not to say that other people do not make a decent scone! Far from it. But honestly, the way to get a good scone is to simply bake them yourself. Scones can be very dry and very boring but they will never be either if eaten soon after they come out of the oven!


My Grandmother does the ultimate summer tea with sandwiches, boiled eggs, salad and cakes. This yumminess is never complete without heaps of golden scones. Or is it scOnes?

"I asked the maid in dulcet tone

To order me a buttered scone

The silly girl has been and gone

And ordered me a buttered scone."

This recipe comes from a VERY old and frankly now disgusting cookbook that belongs to my mum. But the disgustingness of the book merely shows how well used it is - do not judge this book by its greasy and stained cover! Everything I ever made as a child came from that book. It's full of classics.

The recipe goes:

Mix a pinch of salt, 300g flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 75g cooking marg.
If using a machine, mix slowly until you get a breadcrumb consistency, or rub in the marg by hand.

Stir in 50g sugar.

Put 1 egg into a measuring jug and then add milk up to 125ml. Add this mixture but leave a tiny bit of it to one side.

Work the mixture into a soft dough.

Roll out to just over a centimetre thick (the recipe says 12mm but I say the fatter the better!)

Use a 5cm cutter

 Cut out the scones and place them on a lightly floured baking tray.

Brush the top of each with the remaining milk/egg. This will give the characteristic golden sheen. Cook in the oven @ 240°C for around 10 minutes but keep an eye on them as they sometimes take a little less time. Once they are risen and golden, you'll know that they're done.

Allow to cool, for as long as you can stand, and eat within 1/2 days.

 Serve with butter, jam and clotted cream for a real treat!

We tried ours with a rather fancy gooseberry and elderflower jam - delish.

Pinkies out - it's tea time!