Victoria Sponge Cake

I finally made the Victoria Sponge Cake. It is something I have always wanted to try but just did not get round to it. I saw the cake mix from Marks & Spencer and decided to go for it. It is a simple recipe and if you have a regular basic sponge recipe, it is do-able. 

Somehow mine did not turn out as in the picture and I decided to pair with Mango Raspberry cider instead of tea. I thoroughly recommend this brand - Rekorderlig. It does not have a strong alcoholic content and is a bit sweet and bubbly.

The mix does not indicate the size of the cake pan and I use 2 x square cake pans. Obviously too big as my batter was too little to split between two pans equally. So one turned out crispy (brown) and the other was fine (yellow). But the height was not as tall as in the pictures.

So I decided to do two version. The yellow sponge was airier and I used the jam provided (plus a bit of my own Christmas jam). I also followed the instruction using the icing sugar (included) and whisked with butter. It turned out too sweet and grainy. I topped it with my own whipped cream which I made with whipping cream (400ml) and just 2 tablespoons of castor sugar.

For the brown sponge, I used Crabtree & Evelyn mulled jam and the whipped cream. This was still sweet but not overly sweet like the other version.

I think I will want to make my own version without the cake mix in future, Still a nice cake for tea.