Amanda Buus Thomsen – BT Harvesting
On Monday, our crew went to take their car license and written CDL tests. I decided to sweeten the deal by telling them that if anyone was able to pass all their written tests on the same day, I would make them their choice of dessert. Everyone loves a little added incentive, right?
One crew member, a Brit, was able to do it. (To be fair, the other guys were close and were able to pass the tests the next day).
When I asked him what kind of dessert he wanted, I was expecting him to say he wanted chocolate chip cookies, angel food with strawberries or brownies. I wasn’t expecting him to say, “Can you make a Victoria Sponge?” Uh, maybe?
I checked with my friend, Google, and found a recipe. It didn’t look hard and, thankfully, didn’t require any special ingredients. Basically two sponge cakes with raspberry jam and buttercream as the filling between the two layers. It was pretty easy and I may even make it again!
The shop has been busy and harvest prep is in full swing. I’m going through all my recipes and making a rough menu to start the season with since I don’t start cooking for the crew until we start harvesting.
Calories
Fat
Carbs
Protein
Amanda Buus Thomsen from the website delishably.com
Ingredients
- 1 cup softened butter, unsalted
- 1 cup caster / superfine sugar
- 4 medium eggs
- 1 cup self-rising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- raspberry jam to fill the cake
- buttercream to fill the cake
- 1 cup softened butter (unsalted)
- 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract.
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 F and prepare two 6 inch round baking tins by greasing and flouring them. (I used 9" pans)
- Cream together the butter and sugar. Make sure the sugar is well mixed in to the butter. The texture should be light and fluffy.
- Crack four eggs into a separate bowl, ensuring that you remove any stray pieces of shell. With the mixer on slow speed add the eggs, one at a time, to the batter. After each egg is added, mix thoroughly to ensure it is incorporated completely before you add the next.
- Sift the flour and baking powder together and add to the batter. If you sift the flour a couple of times, you'll get more air into it and the result will be a lighter cake.
- Mix until the flour is incorporated and then add the milk. Stir the milk into the cake batter.
- Divide the cake batter as equally as possible between your two prepared cake pans and put in the oven for approximately 25 minutes. It's safest to check the cakes after 20 minutes and give them an additional 5 minutes if necessary. The cakes are ready when a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. The sponges should be springy to the touch.
- After removing from the oven, leave in the cake pans for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once completely cooled, spread raspberry jam (or any other kind you like) onto one half. Spread buttercream over the other half of the cake and then carefully sandwich the two layers together. Lightly dust the top with icing sugar and serve.
- You can use any buttercream recipe for this cake, but I find it's best not to make the frosting too sweet.
- Simply mix together the ingredients until you have a smooth consistency. It helps if the butter is really soft and you should sift the icing sugar to get rid of any lumps.
- There are hundreds of possibilities for adapting this recipe but here are some of the other fillings I have used in the cake to great effect:
- Lemon curd and whipped cream.
- Fresh strawberries and whipped cream.
- A simple layer of strawberry flavoured buttercream.
- Fresh blueberries and vanilla buttercream.
The life as a HarvestHER is never boring!