Aunty Fran’s Victoria sponge

No-one in the world made a better Victoria sponge than my husband’s Aunty Fran  My featured picture isn’t of her sponge, but it is a passable representation of what it was like. Light, fluffy, full of flavour, almost impossible to eat elegantly because it was so well risen, but who cared! She was one of those cooks, like my mum, who defied the recipe books who dictated that the butter should be at this temperature  or the flour folded in just so… she did it by feel and experience.

Th Victoria sponge as you may guess was named after Queen Victoria. It is a light sponge cake made from simple but good ingredients, butter, sugar, eggs and flour. It is baked in two shallow tin sand when cooked and cooled sandwiched together with jam and cram with a sprinkling of icing sugar on top. Strawberry jam or raspberry jam? Does it matter… I think it is personal choice, but if you are using cream, it really should be whipped double cream, not squirt cream from an aerosol can!

If you’ve never made one, have a go, it is so easy… and even if the results aren’t perfect, I am sure they will be delicious!