Wednesday 10 August 2011

Not Such A Domestic Goddess

What a disappointment. Well, an utter failure really. You see, today would have been my late mother’s birthday.  This is our first year without her so in order to fend off the blues, I decided to bake a Victoria Sponge to sort of celebrate her birthday. I was planning to share a small amount with Toddler-Not-So-Tiny-Temper and Mr Working Mum, then polish the rest off myself. (I’m a firm believer in the healing powers of cake).

Well, I’ve just come back from the kitchen where the timer was alerting me to the readiness of my glorious sponge. I had been expecting to find a golden, fluffy triumph, ready to be adorned with lashings of raspberry jam and icing sugar, but the reality is sadly rather different. The only way to describe it is ‘sorry for itself’. It is a limp, apologetic, lop-sided pancake with a lump on one side. (That’s where all the baking powder ended up then). But what is so shameful about this, is that I can cook. I really can! I even did a 3 month full-time cooking course in my gap year, but my Achilles heel is, and has always been, the Victoria Sponge. I have never, not even once, made a successful one that looks like the pictures.  It’s meant to be the easiest bloody cake to make for goodness sake! I’ve tried all manner of recipes with plain flour, self-raising flour and every variation known to man, but every one a failure.

So now I’m now about to tuck into my Vicky Pancake, but please fellow mums, bakers and gastronomes, if you know a fail-safe and I mean truly fail-safe recipe, please let me know. Thanks!

x

5 comments:

  1. I'm so sorry! I hope you and your family have managed to help each other through what must have been an impossibly difficult day.

    I can't even help with a songe cake receipe, although Mummy does make a mean chocolate cake. She's no cook though, so that's quite an achievement. Beware her moussaka!

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  2. They do say there is an element of yourself that goes into each cake you bake and this was a difficult cake for you to bake. ((Hug))



    Easiest Victoria Sponge recipe ever:

    6oz of each of SR flour, caster sugar, butter
    3 room temperature eggs

    Whiz all ingredients together in food processor. Tip into two 8in cake tins (or 12 cupcake cases for cupcakes).

    Bake at 160 degrees C for 45 mins or so (depends on your oven) until risen and golden.

    Works every time for me and is the basis of all my cakes: birthday cakes, cupcakes, sandwich cakes, etc.

    Better luck next time. WM x

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  3. Thanks Working Mum, I'll definitely give this a go and will let you know the result. Thanks for the hug too! x

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  4. Mine hasn't yet gone wrong (and you can use real milk rather than oat milk if you don't need to be dairy free)

    http://www.muddlingalongmummy.com/2011/06/12/dairy-free-life-victoria-sponge/

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  5. Fantastic, thanks Muddling Along Mummy. I'll try it and if it looks half as good as the photo of yours, I'll be delighted!

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