Teeny tiny Victoria sponges with a buttercream and homemade vanilla and strawberry jam filling
April 21, 2012 |
| These little sponges are absolutely beautiful and as they are so little you can eat a whole cake by yourself and not feel too naughty! |
You can now get baking tins that have individual sponge indents with straight edges and removable bottoms, however I haven't used one and there is a very good reason for it.
By making
your own jam to fill these little babies you also are likely to be left with a
nice little pot of 'leftover' jam.. and it would be a shame to see it go to
waste so spoon it onto scones (not blue cheese!) with cream or have it on your
morning toast!
Recipe:
I'm a big fan of the 4,4,4,2 method of baking sponges as my mum taught me so I've doubled the quantities for this recipe to give me two sponges for my tops and bottoms.
For the
sponge-
230g caster sugar
230g baking margarine, having used butter in the past I find that the cake becomes a bit
hard if it gets too cold, margarine says nice and moist and makes a lighter
sponge
230g self
raising flour4 eggs
For the
buttercream-
150g salted butter, the salt in the finished butter cream adds a real depth to the buttercream and make its richer and more indulgent.. there's only a little bit on each cake so you can afford to be very generous with your flavours!
300g icing sugar, this is guide, to be honest I rarely weigh the sugar I just make it to taste and texture, you'll know when it's right
For the
jam-
1 punnet
of strawberries
equal
weight of jam sugar to strawberriesa splash of water
the husk of a vanilla pod, I keep my vanilla pods after scraping out the seeds for custards and the like so I usually have a 'used' pod lying about, if you don't I would slice a pod through the middle lengthways and just use one half, the vanilla adds a warm note to the jam but the strawberries are so sweet that the addition of a whole vanilla pod would be lost amongst the sticky sweetness of the berries.
Put the
oven on to 180c.
To make
the sponge I cream together the margarine and the sugar with an electric hand
whisk in a large bowl so I have plenty of space to move the mixture around.
Whisk the margarine and the sugar until it has become considerably paler than
the original shade of the the marg, keep a tsp of marg aside to check if you
wish! This lightness of colour shows that the mixture has been aerated and will
be fluffy and light.
Find
another largish bowl and wash and dry it thoroughly to make sure there is no
trace of any grease in it at all, they will get greasy just being in a cupboard
in the kitchen. You want to crack your eggs over your beautifully clean bowl,
holding back the yolks in lightly clasped fingers, a bit like one of those
grabby cranes at a fair ground! Let all of the crystal egg white drain through
your fingers, help it through by pulling at it with your other hand but make
sure you do not crack the yolk. Drop the yolks into the bowl with the marg and
sugar mixture as you break your eggs.
Now whisk
your egg yolks into your marg and sugar mixture, adding in a sifting of flour
every few minutes, as soon as your last sifting is no longer visible add a bit
more. The mixture will probably feel very thick and heavy at this point but do
not fret that will soon change.
Wash the
whisk beaters thoroughly and dry them making sure they are completely grease
free. This pedantic grease eradication is so that when you whisk your egg
whites they blossom into fluffy white peaks... grease is the enemy of clouds of
egg white, they will remain stubbornly flaccid and sloppy should any grease be
lurking in the bowl or on the beaters.
Using the
beautifully clean electric hand whisk, whip the egg whites into a bubbly frenzy
until they resemble a large and pearly 99 ice cream in your bowl. Now, take a
large spoonful of your stiffened egg white and gently pour it into your marg,
sugar, yolk and flour batter, using a spatula fold the white foam into the
batter until it has disappeared, repeat until all of the egg white is gone.
Some recipes say to use a metal spoon as its sharp edge cuts through the batter
without knocking any of the air out, I use a silicone spatula as I find it
eases all of the mixture away from the sides of the bowl and make sure its
thoroughly mixed.
Line two
square or rectangular baking tins that are about an inch deep with greaseproof
paper. Divide the mixture equally between the tins and smooth over with the
spatula, do not bang the tins to level the mixture or you'll lose all the air
you've spent ages putting it to the cakes!
Place on
the middle shelf of the oven and bake for about 20 mins, then check. The cakes
should be lightly coloured on top, a golden brown, and slightly firm to the
touch, bouncing back when a finger is pressed lightly against their surface.
Leave the cakes until they are very cool, you can make your buttercream and jam in this time, and you can't ice your cakes until they are cold anyway as the buttercream will melt and slip off.
Before you make the jam put a saucer and a large
dinner plate in the fridge, then cut the stalks off your strawberries and half
them, if there are any giants then chop them into quarters. You want a bit of
texture to your jam so dont cut them up too small or they will just dissolve
and you'll end up with more of a jelly.
Tumble the strawberries into a high walled frying
pan or a saute pan and splosh in enough water to half cover the strawberries.
Turn the heat up high under the pan and bring to the boil, then turn down to a
simmer for the strawberries to stew. After about 5 mins shake over the jam
sugar and throw in your vanilla pod, rather than stirring the mix, which will
make your jam cloudy, swirl the pan around to dissolve the sugar. Leave this to
bubble and thicken for about half an hour, occasionally scooping off any creamy
foam that appears on the surface this will again make your jam cloudy.
When the jam is thick and a very deep, jewel red
colour take a tea spoon of jam and dab it onto the cold saucer from the fridge.
Within second it should firm up into a recognisable jam consistency, sticky and
thick. If it is still too drippy then cook for a further 10 mins, if after this
time it is still too loose add two more tablespoons of jam sugar and bubble for
another 10 mins.
If your jam has passed the cold plate test then
pour all of it onto the large dinner plate, move it about a bit with a spoon to
cool it a little then pop it in the fridge to become completely cold. If you
don't intend of using the jam immediately it can be put into sterilised jars to
cool, this will create an airtight seal. But if you want to use the jam to
finish your cakes on the day then use the plate method to cool is considerably
quicker.
To make the buttercream icing, use your electric
hand whisk again to cream together the butter and icing sugar. Like with the
margarine, you should whisk the butter until it has lightened considerably in
colour, this will be more obvious with the butter than with the margarine. Make
sure you taste the buttercream and adjust the amount of icing sugar until it is
just perfect.
To build your Victoria sponges you must wait until
the sponge is completely cold, then using a 1 1/2 inch circle cutter cut out as
many sponge rounds as you can get from the trays. I managed to get fourteen
circles which eventually made seven finished Victoria sponges. The offcuts of
sponge can be kept and frozen for use in further recipes, one of which I will
be posting in a few weeks' time for a certain monarchs birthday.. any guesses?
If one of your trays was a little deeper than the
other make sure that all your bottoms are from one tray and all your tops are
from another, this way the sponges will not only all be the same height but
will also look a lot more uniform when finished.
Spread a cake bottom round with a good thick
coating of buttercream, be generous they are only little, I aim for about 1/2
inch. Then dollop on a heaped teaspoon of your cooled jam into the middle of
your buttercream, don't try and spread it out as it'll mix into the butter
cream rather than remain as two separate layers. Taking a top cake round, press
it onto the jam, this will spread it out and ensure the top is glued on tightly
and won't fall off your finished cake which just wouldn't do.
Repeat this will all your tops and bottoms them
dust with icing sugar, if you are going to store or transport your cakes then
hold off on your dusting as the moisture in the cakes will make the icing sugar
go translucent rather than powder soft and snowy.
Enjoy with a lovely cup of tea!
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