Victoria Sandwich

My second recipe that I made from Mary Berry's Baking Bible was the Victoria Sandwich. This was another of the classic cakes from the first section of the cookbook. This one is called an all-in-one cake because you combine all the ingredients together at once. Also the recipe said it was a "large" Victoria Sandwich but then it calls for 8" round tins. I laughed at this because it is just another reason why Europeans are not obese like so many Americans.

Anyways, this cake was very easy to make. I did end up adding two extras to the recipe (because I really can't help myself...it's hard for me to not tweak a recipe). So I added another large egg - because the batter looked super thick and I was worried it would be pretty dry like the first cake was and I didn't want that. Then I thought hmmm...this doesn't have any flavoring, so I added a splash of vanilla as well.

With all of that being said, I did the rest like it said to. When I turned out my cakes I did flip them on their heads to cool on my racks and when I picked them up an hour later to put them together, I realized how silly this was. There were some pretty little lines on the tops of my cakes. But that didn't effect the taste at all and the cake was topped with sugar so you couldn't really see the top either.

This cake was a lot less dry than my first cake was and that was good. It also helps that there was delicious strawberry jam in between the layers as well! I don't know about you, but I love strawberry jam, so this was really yummy! I would definitely recommend this cake as it is super easy to make and tastes delicious. Plus it was really pretty as well, so if you need to take a dessert somewhere this would be a lovely one to bring!

The next recipe is for a Coffee Victoria Sandwich. I am going to be skipping this one because we don't like coffee and I'm going to wait until I have someone who actually likes coffee to make it for. :) 

Cooking Through Mary Berry's Baking Bible

Zach and I recently started watching the Great British Baking Show after a friend recommended it. We are almost through all that Netflix has on there and we started last week. So needless to say, we are hooked and if you haven't checked it out, then get on Netflix and watch the first three seasons! :) 

Every episode I think I like Mary just a little bit more. She is what I would imagine my British grandmother would be like. She is very sassy and always sure to speak her mind, but she does it in such a polite and posh way you almost don't notice the insult until she's moved onto something else. We have really enjoyed many of the show's elements, but something really nice is how clean it is. They play lovely music while working on challenges, the contestants help each other and seem to genuinely care about others. It is so refreshing compared the all of the other shows on TV lately. 

As we've been watching these seasons, I've been more and more excited to try to bake some of the recipes. I think we hadn't even finished the first episode when I impulsively went on Amazon and ordered her cookbook. Now, to be fair, I had been saving birthday money since the beginning of June, but that's how much I love this show!

This week, I was reading through the Baking Bible (yes reading, it's the international version so there's lots to learn) and I thought about the movie Julie and Julia. I know I'm recommending lots of things to watch, but this movie is so good if you haven't seen it. Anyways, I decided I would like to bake my way through Mary Berry's Baking Bible. Ambitious. I know. I am not setting some crazy time limit on myself though. Hopefully I will accomplish this task before I'm 30 like Julie did. Who knows. 

With that being said, this week I baked my first recipe and the first in the book. The beginning section is classic cakes. I made a lime Madeira cake. Several observations:

- When they baked these on the show they talked about how it needed a crack in the center, that was the signature look. In the cookbook, there's no mention of that. Mine didn't crack and I was very sad about that. 
- Also the cakes on the show were much fluffier than mine was in the end. So I might have done something wrong with the preparation - I didn't have Paul and Marry here to tell me. 
- Candying lime peel isn't as easy as you'd think. It's a labor of love for sure (took 2+ hours). Also don't leave your heat on high once you get it to simmer - let's just say it won't end well. 
- Overall, the cake was ok. It isn't a new favorite of mine. It was rather dense and close textured I thought. Also, like I mentioned it didn't rise like I thought it would. The flavor was scrummy (my new favorite word thanks to lovely Mary) though and it would be a nice accompaniment to a glass of coffee or tea (we drank milk with it and it was good).