The Vintage Eye Issue 4 | Page 6

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/ Gas Mark 4/ 350°F

Grease, lightly flour and line the base of two 9 inch sandwich tins

Now, take 4 large eggs and weigh them in their shells

Whatever the weight, you will require that same weight each of softened unsalted butter, caster sugar and self-raising flour.

oFor the avoidance of doubt, if your eggs weigh 260g for example; you will need 260g butter, 260g sugar and 260g flour

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy

oIf you are using a stand mixer or electric hand mixer this will take at least five minutes on a medium/ high speed. If you are using a wooden spoon and good old fashioned elbow grease, this will take considerably longer.

Once the mixture has almost doubled in size and is a pale cream colour, begin to add the eggs; cracking them in, one at a time.

oIf the mixture starts to curdle as you are adding the eggs, add a spoonful or two of the weighed flour in between eggs

Once the mixture is combined, fold the flour into the mixture gently to avoid knocking out too much air

Carefully divide the mixture between

the two prepared pans and bake for

20 -25 minutes, or until the cake bounces

back when lightly pressed in the centre.

Transfer to cooling racks,

removing the lining paper and

allow to cool completely

Once cool, sandwich the

cakes together with your choice

of jam (my favourite is raspberry!)

and, if you like, you can also add

buttercream or fresh cream too.

Dust lightly with caster

sugar and serve!

Now there are many, many recipes for making Victoria Sponge and all have their own merits. However this has been the most successful for me and so I’d like to share it with you:

Classic Victoria Sponge

Perfect!