Summer fruits Victoria sponge
A classic recipe that’s sure to impress anyone! It’s so easy to make it look stunning, fresh fruit really sets it off. I use buttercream to fill it with fresh cream on top with a little lemon juice and rind to cut through the sweetness of the filling. You can use any kind of topping, I love using brightly coloured strawberries but you could use cherries and fill with cherry jam or whatever’s in season.
30mins – Prep time: 10mins – Cooking time: 20 mins
Ingredients
Sponge mixture
- 6oz golden caster sugar
- 6oz margarine (I use Stork)
- 6oz self raising flour
- 3 medium/large eggs (get them out of the fridge beforehand to warm up to room temp)
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp vanilla bean paste/5 drops vanilla essence
Buttercream
- 100g butter
- 100g icing sugar
Filling
- 8 tbsp strawberry jam
Lemon cream
- 100ml thick double cream
- 2 tbsp lemon
- Rind 1/2 lemon
- 3 tbsp icing sugar
Decoration
- 8 strawberries
- 6 blackberries
Instructions
Oven temp: 160°C/320°F- Grease and line 2 round tins (I used 17cm wide x 2cm deep).
- Make the sponge: Whisk the eggs and sugar for at least 4 minutes with an electric hand whisk and beat air into the mix so it fluffs up.
- Bit by bit, sieve in the flour and baking powder and add bits of butter, whisking the mixture each time to ensure a smooth texture, until fully mixed, then mix in the vanilla paste or essence.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and smooth over.
- Place in the oven for 25mins until the sponge is springy to the touch
- Remove from tins, peel off greaseproof paper and leave to cool on wire racks
- Make the lemon cream: Sieve the icing sugar into the cream and add 1/2 the lemon rind. Mix together with an electric whisk until it’s stiff enough to hold without moving.
- Make the butter cream: Blend icing sugar and butter together with an electric whisk until the butter pales and goes soft.
- Put the cake together: Spread buttercream with a palette knife on one sponge base and a thick layer of strawberry jam on the other. Sandwich together.
- Using the pallette knife spread the fresh cream onto the top of the cake, leaving sponge visible around the edge
- Dust with a little icing sugar if desired and finish by sprinkling the remaining lemon rind on the top
Strawberry & pomegranate cupcakes with lemon cream
Make the best of summer fruits and enjoy a British tradition, stawberries and cream, with a twist! The best thing is these aren’t too sweet, with the lemon just curbing the sweetness of the strawberries.
20mins – Cooking time: 1hr – 1 1/2hrs
{Serves: 3-4}
Ingredients
16 basic cupcakes {see here for the basic cupcake recipe}
Lemon cream
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 400ml fresh double cream
- 4tbsp icing sugar
Icing
- 200g icing sugar
- blue food paste
- water
Decoration
- 1 punnet organic strawberries (they’re nice and small and fit on the cupcakes)
- 50g pomegranate
Instructions
- Make the icing by adding a few drops off water to the icing sugar until it’s a thick but spreadable consistency, then add colouring as desired. Ice the cupcakes by picking up a teaspoonful and gently smoothing into a circle on the top of the cupcake.
- Make the lemon cream by combining all the ingredients and gently whisking with an electric hand mixer until it forms stiff peaks. Don’t overdo it though!
- Using a star tip, pipe the lemon cream into a swirl on the top of the cupcakes, leaving some of the blue icing visible.
- Decorate by gently placing a strawberry onto the top of the cupcake and placing 4 pieces of pomegranate around the lemon cream swirl.
Welcome to Lay The Table.com. Feed your mind and your tummy with some delicious recipes from me, Becs. I enjoy making food to share: cupcakes, snacks and re-making dishes I tasted around the world when I went travelling across Asia. Please do leave me a comment, I love to hear from you!