Classic Sponge Cake

Time to tackle the very first recipe in Delia's Cakes - the 'Classic Sponge Cake'. Slightly strange that she doesn't call it a 'Victoria Sponge' but that's exactly what it is. Laura made this one, fresh from learning all sorts of fantastic tips at a class run at our (Chitty's Cakes) studio but by the wonderful Melanie from Devenish Girl - another local cake business here in Birmingham. Laura's past experiences of Victoria Sponge cakes had been compared to pancakes given their vertically challenged nature, but with the help of Melanie and Delia, this one was a success.

Delia's method seems to be the same for most of her sponge cakes - sift the flour into a bowl, then add all the other ingredients and combine with an electric whisk. It's exactly the opposite to what I would do, and what Melanie taught Laura and the rest of the class in this week's 'Perfect Victoria Sponge' class. The results from the class speak for themselves in this picture of a very happy Laura - the cake rose up massively and was as light as air, which was a direct result of lots of whisking and beating of the butter and sugar, then yet more beating as the eggs are added gradually and finally folding in the flour gently.

A few days later, when Laura made Delia's sponge cake, she was a bit disappointed with the rise in comparison to the one she made in Melanie's class, but we concluded it was more a result of the tin size rather than anything that hadn't gone right. At our team meeting tasting session, Julie was a bit disappointed at the lack of buttercream in the middle (although traditionally a Victoria sponge does just have jam) but I thought it was delicious. Really traditional and very tasty. In summer, it would work fantastically with some fresh cream in the middle as well as jam.

I hate to contradict Delia's instructions, but I have to say that personally, I think better results always come from the traditional creaming method (butter and sugar thoroughly beaten together first, gradually adding eggs then carefully folding in flour) so that is what we shall be sticking to here. Either way, it's a beautifully simply cake that never fails to hit the spot.