Secret Recipe Club: Victoria Sponge Cake

. It's SRC time again!  I can't believe it's been a month since the Danish Puff reveal, my how time flies when you're old.  But then again, it felt like an eternity waiting around to show everyone my second SRC recipe.  Gosh, I love these [maybe too much?]!

For October, I was assigned Jayasri Ravi's blog Samayal Arai.  Jayasri is from the United Kingdom and has been a member of blogland since 2008, so needless to say her little corner of the Internet has a wide variety of [mainly] cooking and baking recipes, with a heavy influence from her Indian heritage.  See, this is what I love about blogging and SRC, you meet an array of people from all over the world and are introduced to foods you never otherwise would have known/heard about.  Great, huh?!

Anywho, browsing through Jayasri's recipes was extremely interesting, to say the least.  Many of her ingredients I most likely couldn't pronounce: I don't cook and am from the Midwest.  Not a good combination when you're dealing with international foods (sorry Jayasri, I tried!).  But it was great being exposed to different dishes and so many of her recipes sounded absolutely divine (check out Crispy Rice-stuffed Croquettes, Spirali Pasta with Coriander Pesto, and Milk Bread, to name a few of my favorites).  But since I'm no chef, I wandered to Jayasri's baking recipes to find something that I could attempt to recreate.  And then I stumbled upon the Victoria Sponge Sandwich Cake.  I was hooked.

Honestly, I had never heard of a Victoria Sponge Cake (hello, I'm sheltered apparently) but Jayasri's pictures made the cake look so moist and soft that I knew I had to make it.  In her post, Jayasri also mentioned that this cake was her very first attempt at baking, so I'm assuming it holds a special place in her heart. 

Overall, the flavors of this cake were exactly what I had imagined: sweet, delectable preserves cutting through a buttery cake.  However, the texture of the cake didn't really turn out as planned, it wasn't exactly that soft sponge but rather a little more crumbly than I was expecting.  I know this was due to several of my mistakes though:

• First off, I need to upgrade to the next level and purchase a scale (I've read that the scale is the most accurate way to go when baking).  Jayasri's measurements were in grams and ounces, so I had to do some Googling to find accurate conversions.  Nevertheless, I had a hard time finding a consistent conversion for the flour, so I ended up using 1-1/3 cups, which I'm still not sure if that is even the right measurement for 6 ounces...?! 
• I may have over beat the batter a bit.  After a little research, some recipes recommended gently folding in the flour.  I folded in the flour all right, but I'm guessing it wasn't very gentle.  So I think this is why the cake turned out not as soft as it should have.
• Last but not least, I may have over baked the sucker a little.  Jayasri's recipe called for a sandwich tin, which I don't have, so I opted to use a 9-inch pan.  I assumed that the sandwich tin Jayasri used was smaller than my pan, so I put all of the batter into it rather than splitting it in to two pans.  I set the baking time for what was recommended but I should have watched the cake closer because I think it could have and should have come out of the oven a few minutes earlier. 

Aside from these tragic mistakes, and as I previously mentioned, the overall flavors were so, so good.  I loved the taste of a buttery cake with sweet preserves, I told Robbie it reminded me of buttered toast and jam (nix the crunchy toast part).  As you can see, the cake is very simple, so it makes a wonderful breakfast or snack time treat.  With warm coffee.  MmMMmmm!

In her recipe, Jayasri also suggested making homemade whipped cream to put in the middle of the cake, which I will definitely do next time around.  I think it would add a great creaminess to the mix.  Also, adding in some fresh fruit would be oh-so great!

Thanks again, Jayasri, I had a wonderful time perusing your blog and getting to know a little bit about you.  I'll definitely be keeping this cake in my repertoire! .

My Notes:

• Hmm, I guess see above?!  But, I will note that the measurements below are the conversions I ended up using to make this cake.  I included Jasayri's measurements in the parenthesis', so if anyone has any suggestions for better converted measurements, please drop a comment!

From Samayal Arai

Ingredients:

3/4 c. (6 oz.) butter, softened

3/4 c. (6 oz.) caster sugar

1-1/3 c. (6 oz.) self-rising flour, divided

3 eggs

3/4 c. favorite flavor of preserves or jam

Powdered sugar (optional, for dusting)

Directions:

1.  Heat oven to 350F.  Grease 9-inch pie pan with non-stick cooking spray and line bottom with parchment paper.

2.  Cream butter and sugar together in mixing bowl until very pale in color (about 3 minutes).

3.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, each with a tablespoon of flour, until combined.

4.  Gently fold in remaining flour.

5.  Transfer batter to prepared pan.  Bake 23 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean (the original recipe called for 30 to 40 minutes baking time but this is my suggested time to make sure the cake doesn't over bake).  Let cool in pan 2 to 3 minutes before turning out onto wire rack to cool completely.

6.  Using serrated knife or cake slicer, cut cake in half, creating two layers.

7.  Place bottom layer of cake onto serving platter.  Evenly spread preserves onto cake.  Top with second cake layer.  Dust with powdered sugar.

Yield: 8 servings