Simply delicious …

I was looking forward to baking a cake today and I chose my husband’s favourite: Victoria Sandwich Cake. Its beauty lies in its simplicity, an amazing kind of baking alchemy takes place when the simple ingredients are combined with the straightforward instructions:

Here’s the recipe:

225g margarine

225g caster sugar

225g self-raising flour

4 eggs

seeds from 1 vanilla pod

2 tsp baking powder

Using the ‘all in 1 method‘, put all of the ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix well. Divide between 2 prepared baking tins and bake in an oven, pre-heated to 180 C, for about 25 minutes, or until the middle of each cake is firm but springy to the touch.

Once the cakes are out of the oven and have cooled on a wire rack, sandwich them together with your choice of filling. Today, I used raspberry jam and buttercream made with 175g icing sugar, 50g butter and 2 tbsp milk.

Let it snow …

It may be pouring with rain outside but it’s been snowing in my kitchen! With a lot of help from my eldest (what a star he is) the following was created this afternoon:

I just hope it lasts until Sunday!