Lord and Lady Braybrooke have guests for afternoon tea, and so I am in the garden looking for
flowers to help with the decoration.
I'm going to make Victoria Sandwiches, everybody loves Victoria Sandwiches.
For these you will need:
The first step is to whisk the eggs. You will need to whisk them for a long time to make
them nice and frothy and this will help with the rise of the cake.
I'm using a copper bowl. But you might need to add a few drops of lemon juice to help.
Now that they're nice and fluffy, we're going to add sugar and mix them well together.
Now you add the flour, make sure that you sift it, especially if you are unsure of the
quality of your flour. And it will also help keep your cake mix nice and light.
You can, if you like, add almonds. I would recommend it.
Add a little raising agent to help with the rise. And to add a little flavour, I'm going
to add some orange flower water. I suppose you could add vanilla or almond flavouring,
it depends on who you're cooking for.
And now you need to make sure that you mix all of it thoroughly together.
As we are making Victoria Sandwiches the sponge cake needs to be baked in a rectangular tin.
The first thing you need to do is to line it. So I am going to cover the whole thing
with butter. Over every single bit of the tin.
Now that you have lined your tin, to get a nice edge to your cake just sprinkle some
sugar all the way over it.
And now pour in your mix.
We want the cake to have a flat top. So give it a couple of taps and then to insulate it
whilst it is in the oven, so it can cook more smoothly all the way over, I'm going to wrap
some wet cheesecloth or bands, and pin it around the outside.
Obviously all ovens are different, so you'll want to keep an eye on it and maybe turn it
while it's in there.
And it wants to cook in a moderate oven.
Now that it's out of the oven and cool, you can cut it into manageable pieces. Then halve
these. And spread it with jam.
Now we need to present it. So cut it into bite sized pieces and put it on a presentation
dish.
And there we are, the last sandwich. With some of Lady Braybrooke's favourite flowers
from the gardens here at Audley End.
Victoria Sandwiches, perfect for a summer afternoon.