Over the summer break I made a summer version of a Victoria sponge cake. The sponge is light and the raspberry and rose flavours fit so well with a summer afternoon tea.

The recipe is taken from the Cooks Companion by Stephanie Alexander.

Ingredients for cake

120 g corn flour

4 tsp custard powder

1 tsp cream of tartar

½ tsp bicarb soda

4 large eggs at room temperature

2/3 cup of castor sugar

Ingredients for filling

Home-made raspberry jam

400 ml double cream

1 tsp icing sugar

½ tsp rosewater

Fresh  raspberries

Rose flavoured meringues

edible rose petals

1. Preheat oven to 170°C (150°C for a fan forced oven). Brush two round 20 cm cake pans with melted butter and line the base and sides with baking paper.
2. Sift dry ingredients, except sugar, twice.
3. In a medium sized bowl, beat, with an electric mixer, egg whites and sugar until thick and meringue like; not to a peak.
4. Beat in egg yolks one at a time.
5. Fold in dry ingredients gently, but thoroughly.
6. Spoon the mixture equally into the prepared cake pans and smooth the surfaces.
7. Bake in the middle of the oven for 18-25 minutes until cake feels springy when touched lightly in the centre of the cake.
8. Remove from the oven and leave cakes in the pans for 2 minutes away from draughts before turning out onto a piece of baking paper on top of a clean tea towel and cool completely.
9. Whip cream with the icing sugar until just firm, add the rosewater and mix gently but well.
10. Cover one of the sponges with a good layer of homemade raspberry jam and top with half the whipped cream. Top with the other sponge cover with cream and decorate with fresh raspberries, meringues and edible rose petals.

Tips

I didn’t have cream of tartar so found on a web site that you can substitute baking powder for bicarb soda and cream of tartar. 1 tsp baking powder = 1/4 tsp baking soda + 5/8 tsp cream of tartar. In this recipe use 1 ¾ tsp baking powder.

Edible rose petals are available from speciality food stores.