Lay The Table

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

1. Grease and line 2 round tins (I used 17cm wide x 2cm deep).
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and smooth over.
5. Place in the oven for 25mins until the sponge is springy to the touch
6. Remove from tins, peel off greaseproof paper and leave to cool on wire racks
7. 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.
8. Make the butter cream: Blend icing sugar and butter together with an electric whisk until the butter pales and goes soft.
9. 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.
10. Using the pallette knife spread the fresh cream onto the top of the cake, leaving sponge visible around the edge
11. Dust with a little icing sugar if desired and finish by sprinkling the remaining lemon rind on the top

Oct 19, 2009 | Full size cake | Leave A Comment »

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

1. 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.
2. 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!
3. Using a star tip, pipe the lemon cream into a swirl on the top of the cupcakes, leaving some of the blue icing visible.
4. Decorate by gently placing a strawberry onto the top of the cupcake and placing 4 pieces of pomegranate around the lemon cream swirl.

Jul 26, 2009 | Cupcakes | 1 Comment »