Friend Rosie and the Victoria Sponge

friend Rosie baking a Victoria Sponge

Last week I went through a bit of a sweet tooth for cake. Cake just about has to be the highest food item on anybody's taste list, in fact I cannot right now think of a food I like better. My family's favorite is a frosted frozen whipped cream chocolate layer cake which we now call "The Keck" in honor of Father of the Bride (and Martin Short). Just mention The Keck and everyone's paws will go up and tongues will hang out in a peculiarly doglike pant. We can't get enough of it.

During my sweet tooth phase I traipsed the streets around St Ives looking for one. For a specific one - the Victoria Sponge. I've seen Mary Berry bake a lovely Victoria Sponge on The Great British Baking Show, and that is the cake I wanted. 

But - and this has to be unbelievable in a tourist town like St Ives - none of the tea shops had one. This is very upsetting for someone like me who is having a sweet tooth attack. I went so far as to order a piece of Chocolate Orange cake instead, which I will not discuss here because it would be insulting to the shop owner. But friend Rosie would be coming to St Ives soon, and I knew I could get her to make me one.

She did. Or rather, we did. Today she guided me through the process, saying things like "One should put all the ingredients into the bowl before mixing." or: "It is best not to beat the batter too long" (the recipe says 2 minutes, but you should actually stop beating the batter once the ingredients have all been incorporated - about a minute and a half.). Now I did not know this, dear Readers. The purpose for not over-beating is to KEEP THE CAKE MOIST. Keeping a cake moist is nothing less than the Gold standard.

Here are a few photographs of our Victoria Sponge:

And here is Mary Berry's recipe. Doesn't ours look like hers?!

My sweet tooth has now been well assuaged. In fact, I had so much Victoria Sponge at 4:00 today that I did not feel quite right afterward. But it was not the cake's fault. The cake was perfection itself and I intend on overdoing it some more in the very near future. 

See you along the way!

the SconeLady