Victoria Sandwich Recipes

Steps:

• The measurements for this recipe are equal amounts of sugar, flour and fat to the weight of the eggs; Recipezaar will not allow me to post that as a measurement. Therefore, weigh the eggs first - if the eggs weigh 8 ounces, you will use 8 ounces of sugar, 8 ounces of butter or margarine and 8 ounces of flour. If the eggs weigh 6 ounces, all the other ingredients will be 6 ounces - easy!
• Set oven Gas 4 160C (fan oven), 180C or 360F: grease and base line the bottom of 2 x 8" sandwich tins - cake tins.
• Cream margarine or butter together with the sugar, until light and fluffy.
• Beat the eggs, and then add them to the mixture, gradually and beating well after each addition.
• Sieve the flour and fold into the mixture with a metal spoon.
• Divide equally between the 2 prepared tins and bake for 25 minutes in the middle of the oven.
• Remove and allow to cool for 1-2 minutes.
• Remove from the tins and fill with raspberry jam (and cream if using) when cold, to avoid the cream melting or the jam seeping into the sponge.
• A light dusting of caster sugar or icing sugar on the top will finish it.
• Place on an attractive cake stand or plate, and serve in dainty wedges with freshly brewed tea.
• Cook's Notes.
• If you use butter remove from the fridge to soften before using. This is not necessary with soft margarine.
• If large eggs are used they may weigh 7 ½ ozs/210g. If so make sure you use this weight for the other ingredients.
• A smaller sandwich cake can be made with 2 medium eggs. Weight about 4 oz/55g. If so, use 2 x 7" sandwich tins and the cakes and the cakes will need less time in the oven - probably 20mins.
• Alternative measurements:.
• 3 eggs.
• 6 ounces soft margarine or butter.
• 6 ounces caster sugar.
• 6 ounces SR flour.
• Proceed as above for method.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line 2 x 20cm sandwich tins. Beat the butter and sugar together with an electric whisk until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, followed by the flour and baking powder. Add enough milk to the mixture so that it falls off a spoon easily. Divide between the tins and bake for 20 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Turn the cakes out onto a wire rack and cool.
• To make the filling, beat the butter until smooth, then gradually beat in icing sugar. Spread butter cream on one cake up to the edges. Spread a layer of strawberry jam on top. Put the second cake on top and squash it down so the butter cream sticks out a bit. Press hundreds and thousands onto the butter cream with a teaspoon. This is messy, so put the cake plate on a tray to catch any that escape. Dust the top with icing sugar, if you like.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Butter two 20cm sandwich tins and line with non-stick baking paper.
• In a large bowl, beat 200g caster sugar, 200g softened butter, 4 beaten eggs, 200g self-raising flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 2 tbsp milk together until you have a smooth, soft batter.
• Divide the mixture between the tins, smooth the surface with a spatula or the back of a spoon.
• Bake for about 20 mins until golden and the cake springs back when pressed.
• Turn onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.
• To make the filling, beat the 100g softened butter until smooth and creamy, then gradually beat in 140g sifted icing sugar and a drop of vanilla extract (if you're using it).
• Spread the buttercream over the bottom of one of the sponges. Top it with 170g strawberry jam and sandwich the second sponge on top.
• Dust with a little icing sugar before serving. Keep in an airtight container and eat within 2 days.

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease two 8" round cake pans.
• In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until well combined and smooth.
• Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl after each addition.
• Add the extracts, if you're using them.
• Add the flour, beating gently just until well combined.
• Divide the stiff batter evenly between the cake pans; there'll be 11 to 12 ounces of batter in each, depending on the size eggs you used.
• Bake the cakes for about 20 minutes, or until they start to pull away from the edges of the pans. Remove them from the oven, cool for a couple of minutes, and turn out of the pans onto a rack to cool completely.
• When the cakes are cool, place one layer on a plate. Spread with the jam of your choice.
• Whip the cream - 2/3 cup cream makes a medium-thickness layer of filling; 3/4 cup cream, a thick layer. Sprinkle in 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, or to taste, as you whip the cream until it's quite stiff. Stir in the vanilla at the end.
• Spread the whipped cream over the jam. Top with the second layer of cake.
• Brush the top of the cake with syrup, and sprinkle with coarse white sparkling sugar, if desired. Or sprinkle with confectioners' sugar just before serving.
• Refrigerate the cake until you're ready to serve it. It'll be at its best within 12 hours; but is still quite good up to 2 or even 3 days later. The difference will be the whipped cream, which will gradually settle/compact.