Practice Preparation: Cake week, Victoria Sandwich Cake

I sit at my computer with my iPad constantly streaming GBBO in order to start breaking down all the bakes. Then I have to pause and breathe into a paper bag after looking at the list, because I think I’ve made a mistake and I might poop my pants. Don’t worry I haven’t actually pooped my pants...yet. (I’ll let you know). After a few deep, yogic breaths I start looking at the list again and realize how much I am going to learn after research and baking… an inkling of excitement starts to bubble up. Then, the enormity of the ingredients and the actual sheer amount of things I have to make starts to hit me-- will this be the time I actually poop my pants?
In case you are wondering, I didn’t. But there are few things that I actually did do:

I’ve ordered a couple of books that I thought could give me some insight. Of course, I had to order at least one book by the “King of Bread” himself, Paul Hollywood. I chose “How to Bake.” I’ve read through the “Introduction” and “Getting Started with Bread,” to glean helpful tidbits especially when I get to all the crazy bread parts (can you say lion bread sculpture anyone?). I can’t wait to start practicing my eight braid plait.

I stumbled up on a book when I went to visit the empire of Chip & Joanna Gaines (@magnolia) in Waco one afternoon called “Crusts: The Ultimate Baker’s Book.” It is big and beautiful with a hardcover and built in bookmarks. What’s not to love? It has a great intro and forward, and if you are a little bit of a nerd, the section “A Brief History of Breadmaking” will make you turn pages with glee. I know that this recipe bible will be useful as I research from week to week.

My neighbors have been really supportive (I love walking across the street to share bakes with them), which is amazing since we have only lived in the neighborhood for five short months. As I was delivering a bake the other week (custard tart), my neighbor, Anne, insists that I take from her collection of cookbooks, since she doesn’t cook or bake anymore. Kevin, her husband, loves (LOVES) sweet things, especially sweet baked things. You can imagine, I am grateful to have a place test my bakes. They have lived all over the world so their cookbook collection is eclectic. She gave me the cookbook “A Sterling Collection: Recipes from Britain.” Apparently, it was written by a group Anne used to belong to across the pond “The Kensington Chelsea Women’s Club.” Sounds classy. There were a lot of a recipes for main courses and things like that but I was able to copy recipes for: Creme Anglaise, Wafer Biscuits, Creme Brulee, Sticky Toffee Pudding, Tarte Au Citron. All of these will be useful for my baking adventure. I also copied Steak Pie and Treacle Tart recipe because I love me steak pie (especially with some stout) and Harry Potter’s favorite tart is treacle so obviously….(#hufflepuffforlife). Oh, come on...you know I am nerd.

Due to the heart stopping amount of British cakes that I have to make in my first “Showstopper,” I figured I’d better bake a British cake. Since I am born and raised in America, many of these British cakes I have never tasted before. I decided to start with the classic: Victoria Sandwich Cake. I chose this first because I know that I have do this as a technical in one of the seasons (it’s not cheating! It’s being smart) and I know that the sponge can be featured in a variety of different bakes. Overall, I think it went over quite well! It seemed delicious to me. The sponge was light and springy and a good texture. However, I did modify the jam recipe (gasp!)...since I baked a Mary Berry recipe. I was nervous about doing that, but I make my own jam often in order to control the amount of sugar that goes into the jam. This recipe required a lot of sugar (in the sponge and jam), at least, to me. It was a little to cloying for me so I amped it up with juice from one large lemon. Actually, looking back on it I was surprised that the recipe for jam didn’t require any lemon juice. Gotta have that acidity! I didn’t modify the amount of berries or sugar… just added the lemon juice and adjusted the cooking time. Like I have said before, I feel comfortable cooking so I don’t get too frazzled with messing with something on top of the stove - hopefully, that plays into my favor when I have to make some stuff not in the oven.
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Everything I have heard about a Victoria sponge is not to overmix. So I was careful to heed that advice. But in fact, I think I almost undermixed the batter. The butter didn’t seem to have incorporated smoothly into the mixture, so I am glad that I decided to turn on the mixture a few more minutes. I think I got that “soft dropping texture” that the sponge calls for. My baked sponges were pulling away from the tin and springing back to touch. These sponges are lighter than I had expected. The buttercream recipe was simple and straightforward. Again, I modified the amount of sugar in the frosting since I personally don’t like super sugary frosting (that’s why I love Asian cakes so much, it’s not as sweet as an “American” cake).

Disclaimer: No, that isn’t ramen noodles... I just didn’t know what the eff I was doing. #bakepractice

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​Lessons learned:

My buttercream looks weird because I was trying out my new silicone baking bag and I thought it would look nice with a piping tip as well. As it turns out, the tip was too big for the piping bag and it couldn’t create the dollops of buttercream that I have seen in pictures.
Here are the things that I learned:
*use all the jam, since some of it will soak into the sponge and it makes a good complement to the sponge and buttercream. I will continue to add lemon juice to brighten up my jam and cut out some of the sugar.
*I will get 8in cake tins - I used 9 in ones and I felt that were not as thick as they should have been. The recipe did call for 8 in tins but I used what I had in my baking arsenal.
*Double the buttercream recipe and beat it a little longer...I want a slightly more fluffy buttercream. It seemed a little light in the amount to dollop the entire cake.
*Change the look of the buttercream filling- duh!
Up next, to practice I will make my first Lemon Drizzle Cake. If there are any Brits out there (especially, close to me- in the Austin area… I need taste testers!), give me pointers or your family’s favorite recipe. I’ll post about adventures with my next British cake soon.

Find the recipe I used for the Victoria Sandwich below.
http://www.pbs.org/food/recipes/marys-victoria-sandwich/


Ingredients

• For the sponge
• 4 large free-range eggs
• 225g (8oz) caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
• 225g (8oz) self-raising flour
• 1 level tsp baking powder
• 225g (8oz) unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
• For the jam
• 200g (7oz) raspberries
• 250g (9oz) jam sugar
• For the buttercream
• 100g/3½oz unsalted butter, softened
• 200g/7oz icing sugar, sifted
• 2 tbsp milk

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and line two 8in sandwich tins: use a piece of baking or silicone paper to rub a little baking spread or butter around the inside of the tins until the sides and base are lightly coated. Line the bottom of the tins with a circle of baking paper.
2. Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl, add the sugar, flour, baking powder and soft butter. Mix everything together until well combined. Be careful not to over-mix – as soon as everything is blended you should stop. The finished mixture should be of a soft ‘dropping’ consistency.
3. Divide the mixture evenly between the tins. Use a spatula to remove all of the mixture from the bowl and gently smooth the surface of the cakes.
4. Place the tins on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Don’t be tempted to open the door while they’re cooking, but after 20 minutes do look through the door to check them.
5. While the cakes are cooking, make the jam. Put the raspberries in a small deep-sided saucepan and crush them with a masher. Add the sugar and bring to the boil over a low heat until the sugar has melted. Increase the heat and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and carefully pour into a shallow container. Leave to cool and set.
6. The cakes are done when they’re golden-brown and coming away from the edge of the tins. Press them gently to check – they should be springy to the touch. Remove them from the oven and set aside to cool in the tins for 5 minutes. Then run a palette or rounded butter knife around the inside edge of the tin and carefully turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack.
7. To take your cakes out of the tins without leaving a wire rack mark on the top, put the clean tea towel over the tin, put your hand onto the tea towel and turn the tin upside-down. The cake should come out onto your hand and the tea towel – then you can turn it from your hand onto the wire rack. Set aside to cool completely.
8. For the buttercream, beat the butter in a large bowl until soft. Add half of the icing sugar and beat until smooth. Add the remaining icing sugar and one tablespoon of the milk and beat the mixture until creamy and smooth. Add the remaining tablespoon of milk if the buttercream is too thick. Spoon the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle.
9. To assemble, choose the sponge with the best top, then put the other cake top-down on to a serving plate. Spread with the jam then pipe the buttercream on top of the jam. Place the other sponge on top (top uppermost) and sprinkle with caster sugar to serve.​