Victoria Sandwich for One

Last year I entered a Victoria Sandwich into a local horticultural competition and was disqualified!!

Yep, you read right…..disqualified!!

And what was the awful deed I did to be disqualified……..I put buttercream between my layers of sponge and dusted icing sugar on the top.

Shock!

Horror!!!!

The competition was being run according to the Women’s Institute rules, and they don’t allow buttercream or icing sugar…..can you believe that?!!

Surely it says in the British constitution that a Victoria Sandwich must have a thick layer of Buttercream between two layers of cake!!!

What was particularly gutting was the comments on the cards were all great “lovely moist sponge” ” “nice and light” etc etc until you read at the end *no buttercream or icing sugar allowed* pfft!!

Now I know you’re probably thinking ‘but you should have read the rules’, but there wasn’t any printed. All it said was ‘to WI regulations’ and I tried, but I couldn’t find the regulations anywhere!

Anyway, this year will be different! This year I will make a stunning Victoria Sandwich and fill it with JUST jam, and this year I hope to win!!!!!!

Before entering last years competition I did a bit of research on how to make the best Victoria Sponge, and this is my perfected recipe. Of course you can make one big sandwich (a 3 egg recipe, will make a 6-7″ sandwich), or you can do as I did on this occasion, make individual portions by baking a sheet cake and using a round cutter to make Victoria Sandwiches for one.

Victoria Sandwich for One

This recipe is really easy to make either lots of, or a little of. It’s all to do with how many eggs you use. I’m going to use 3 eggs.

Weigh your eggs in their shells, and note their weight.
Use the same weight as your eggs of each of the following;
Self Raising Flour – sifted
Butter
Caster Sugar

And for every 3 eggs, use .5tspn Vanilla Essence.

Pre-heat your oven to 160c, 140c fan or Gas Mark 3.
Grease and line either 2 sandwich tins, or one sheet tin. This recipe can also be used for cupcakes.

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla essence until light and fluffy.

Break one egg into a small bowl then add it to the mix and beat thoroughly. The reason I always break my eggs into a small bowl first is to ensure they are not bad, and because I have a bad habit of dropping bits of shell.

Add one table spoon of flour to the mix and beat thoroughly. This can all be done with an electric mixer.

Repeat until all the eggs are used.

Add the remainder of the flour and mix by hand with a large spoon until just combined.

Pour into your cake tins and bake. It will depend on how many eggs you’ve used and whether you are baking a sandwich, sheet cake or cupcakes as to how long they bake for. Generally speaking a 3 egg, 2 layer sandwich will take between 20 – 25 minutes.

You can tell when its done, when its well risen, golden on top, and a cocktail stick stuck in the centre comes out clean.

When its baked, remove from the oven and transfer to a rack to cool.

When completely cool, the WI says you should fill with just Strawberry Jam (preferably home made).

I very naughtily added both jam (not home made) and buttercream and then dusted my individual sandwiches with icing sugar ……..but thats because I’m a rebel!!!

Clandestine Cake Club Cobham

This week I joined the best club ever!!

The Clandestine Cake Club, had its first meeting in Cobham this week, and it was fab. Thanks to Liz for organising it?

Basically, it goes like this…..the organiser of the local club tells you about a week before where you are meeting. Our first meeting was at a cafe of a local garden centre.

Then you bake a cake, which you take to your meeting.

All the other members of the meeting also bake cakes which they take along – I baked a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

At the meeting, you get yourself a cuppa and try all the cakes that have been baked, whilst you talk to all the other lovely members about, amongst other things, baking cakes.

At the end of the meeting, if there is any cake left, it’s divvied up and you take it home…….

So in a nutshell…..bake cake, drink tea, eat cake, talk cake, take cake home.

I think I got to try 10 different cakes.

Didn’t I say it was the best Club ever?!!

Some of the lovely cakes we had to try included Liz’s Gluten Free Vanilla Sponge with Fresh Cream and Strawberries :

Ultimate Chocolate Brownie Cake with Chocolate Peppermint Fillings made using My Secret Kitchen Products, bought along by Nicola:

And various loaf cakes including A Blueberry Loaf, and a Banana and Chocolate Loaf:

As it was the first Cobham meeting, the local press turned up, and the Cobham Clandestine Cake Club features on todays Surrey Advertiser……..well a group of women, with a stack of home baked cake is enough to get any press interested, and that means National TV too!!

The Clandestine Cake Club will be featured on the BBC 1 show The One Show on Friday 24th March. Sadly I’m not able to go to meet the lovely Chris Evans, laden with cakes, but I will eagerly watching the box at 7pm!!

Naturally Pink Cupcakes

Valentines is on its way….the more sceptical amongst you may think its just another way the card and gift manufacturers get you to part with your hard earned cash, and in many ways I agree. However, I also feel that its a way of making you stop and truly appreciate the loved ones in your lives, and I don’t just mean your significant others.

For many many years, before he was sadly taken from us, I would send my Great Uncle, or as we all knew him, Unc, a Valentines card. And I would always get one back.

My Unc was better than any grandfather. He was a personality bigger than anyone I’ve known since. He was a salty old sea dog with tales from his time as a sailor and when he worked in Southampton Docks. He build stuff, he helped us move, he put up our shelves (at times slightly wonky, but we always forgave that because he put them up). He was generally the grandfather you read about in story books.

After my Aunt died he moved in with my parents and became one of the most important members of our family. He was never a blood relative as he married into our family, but I would never consider him anything other than family. And it is at Valentines I remember him most because I miss his card, and the thought taken to send him one. He was always there for me and it was an opportunity for me to remember to tell him how much he meant to me.

Also, he liked his food and he would try ANYTHING! Therefore, I am dedicating, these slightly unusual cupcakes to him.

Now…….don’t instantly go YAK when I break the news to you of what makes these cupcakes pink.

You’d happily eat carrot cake, so why not try Beetroot? Yep!!! Beetroot! And just think of the amazing colour! Pink cakes without any hint of artificial colouring.

I tried these cakes, straight from the oven when still warm, and would recommend you don’t. These cakes are definitely next day cakes! The earthy Beetroot flavour subsides with time, three days in they were at their best!

Beetroot and Vanilla Cupcakes

The recipe is based on one from here adapted to make slightly fewer and with a different buttercream icing.

120gms Caster Sugar
120gms Unsalted Butter at room temperature
120gms Self Raising Flour sifted
2 eggs (separated)
120gms Cooked Beetroot (if using vacuum packed DO NOT use the one in vinegar) Puréed. (save some juice for the buttercream)
2tspn Good Vanilla Essence

Pre-heat your oven to 160c, 140c fan or gas mark 3

Line a cupcake tin with 10 cupcake cases

In a bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy

Add the egg yolks, pureed Beetroot and Vanilla and mix

Next mix in the Self Raising Flour until combined

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until you get stiff peaks

Add one spoonful of the whisked egg whites to the other mixture and mix vigorously

Add the remainder of the egg whites and carefully fold in until fully combined and no white streaks can be seen

Stand in awe whilst looking at the colour of your cake batter!

Spoon your mix into your cupcake cases

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a cocktail stick comes out clean of mixture when stuck in the middle of one of the cakes. They may take slightly longer to bake depending on how much moisture your Beetroot has in it.

Remove the cakes from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack

Just look at the colour of the cake before they are iced!

Beetroot Coloured Buttercream

100gms Unsalted Butter at room temperature
400gms Icing sugar
3tspn Beetroot Juice saved from the Beetroot when making the cakes
2tbspn Milk

Beat all the ingredients together until light and fluffy.

If you want a stronger colour, just add more Beetroot juice. Beware however, the more you add, the more likely you are to be able to taste it! Just add a drop at a time, until you get exactly the colour you want.

Pipe or smooth the buttercream with a knife onto your cakes and enjoy!

The Egg-stra Sunday Supplement

Well, what a week. The New Year is certainly up and running. So to recap:

We’ve had Raspberry and Chocolate Cupcake Bakes

And Individual Cakes in a Cup

Next week…..drum roll please, I’m hoping to bring you Diet Coke Chicken, and Vanilla and Beetroot Cupcakes. But I’m apologising now if that doesn’t happen because I’m off to work in Bournemouth for the week, and I can’t guarantee the hotel will have wifi!

Since starting this blog, I have become obsessed with other food blogs. I’ve got hundreds (if not hundreds then definitely loads and loads) of blogs on my reader and it has become an enjoyable habit to sit down in the evening and catch up on all the new posts.

I’ve been given loads of ideas, have commented on a few, and have filed a few recipes onto my ‘recipe to do’ list for future use. And now I’ve decided some just have to be shared….so I’ve decided to introduce Share Stuff Sunday, so I can introduce you to any blog posts I have particularly enjoyed, or think are of use.

Also, it’s a good way for me to remind myself of any I’ve missed off the to do list.

Firstly this week, comes Cakeboule who didn’t have the best start to the week but made some awesome Vanilla Extract

I also loved Baking Beats this week, with great burgers accompanied by some fantastic music.

And lastly I thoroughly enjoyed Life of a Cupcake Baker, who made the most adorable English Garden Cakes, offering us hope that spring isn’t too far away.

In other news…….I was very chuffed when Holly Bell, finalist of the 2011 Great British Bake Off, gave @DaisyCakeCo a Twitter Follow Friday this week.

And my incredibly clever niece, who I believe may be of genius status (people say she’s just like me!), did me this:

See………..genius!!

Have a great week!!