[Sca-cooks] OOP: Victoria Sponge Cake

[Nanna Rognvaldardottir]

Adamantius wrote:
>
> So, a true Victoria sponge is neither Victorian nor a sponge? Not that
> I'm especially surprised, mind you ;  ) ...

Dorothy Hartley has this to say about the cake in Food in England:

"The Old English Sponge Cake
This was made entirely of eggs, sugar and fine flour. It was the basis of
many 'made up' sweet dishes and was frequently baked in specially designed
tin moulds. When served as a cake a crust was given to the sponge by
greasing and then dusting the inside of the mould with a thick coating of
sugar and flour. A tall architectural mould, crusted this way, turned out a
cake that looked like a miniature cathedral carved in ivory.
The method of making a "light sponge" varies with each expert - some beat
the egg mixture over hot wate, some beat whites and yolks separately, but
the resultant cake is a feathery-light texture of sugared egg.
Later the Victorians added butter, which gives the sponge mixture a
different texture, halfway to a Madeira sponge (which is compounded
completely differently). This more solid type baked better in flat tins and
resulted in the 'Victoria sandwich' which was spread with jam and dusted
with sugar. Nowadays nearly all sponge mixtures are baked flat and miscalled
after their fillings as 'cream sponge', 'sandwich cake', 'chocolate sponge',
etc.; and the Victorian sandwich sponge is gradually becoming a 'layer cake'
(which is again completely different in method and texture)."

The first Victoria sandwich recipe to appear in print was Mrs. Beeton's
(1861). I have a facsimile of her book at home and can check out later if it
is different from the version you posted.

Nanna