Victoria Sponge Cake
Credit: Arthur Meehan
MAKES ONE 8" CAKE
This delicious cake, popular at afternoon teas in England, was named in honor of Queen Victoria.
3⁄4 lb. plus 1 tbsp. salted European-style high-fat butter,
softened
3 cups plus 1 tbsp. self-rising cake flour
1 1⁄2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 1⁄4 cups double Devon cream
3⁄4 cup high-quality strawberry jam
Confectioners' sugar
1. Preheat oven to 360º. Grease two 2"-deep 8" round cake pans with 1/2 tbsp. butter each. Dust each with 1/2 tbsp. flour; set aside.
2. Beat remaining butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed for 5 minutes. Add granulated sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Combine eggs and 6 tbsp. water in another bowl. Add half the egg mixture and half the flour to butter–sugar mixture. Beat well for 1–2 minutes. Add remaining egg mixture and flour; beat batter for 5 minutes.
3. Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cakes comes out clean, 35–40 minutes. Invert cakes onto a rack, remove pans, and let cool completely.
4. Beat cream in a medium bowl until stiff. Put 1 cake layer on a cake plate, spread top with half the jam, then cover jam with the cream. Spread top of remaining cake layer with remaining jam and place it, jam side down, on top of cream. Dust cake with confectioners' sugar.
I did use raspberry for the filling, as I agree with the other review that raspberry is where it is at for this cake (which was my favorite dessert growing up in England).
I will definitely be making this again (for Easter - this was a dry run), but next time I will tie myself to a chair or something to make sure I let the darn thing cool before putting it all together!