A few months ago, gripped by baking fever, I purchased Mary Berry's Baking Bible. I quickly decided to embark upon a mission to bake everything in the book, and turn myself from an occasional baker into a bit of an expert. My Grandad Ern was a Master Baker by trade; the man responsible for introducing Danish Pastries to England in fact, and I wish it had occurred to me to spend more time learning from him, rather than simply enjoying the fruits of his effortless labours. This project is almost a way of making amends for that; I'd like to follow in his footsteps (if not in my career, at least as a hobby) and continue the proud heritage of baking in my family.
I credit my friend Rachel with the idea to write a blog about my baking exploits, hoping that there will be more successes than failures as I attempt all 213 of the Queen of Baking's recipes.
So as not to bore the husband with a monotonous diet of sponges, followed by weeks of biscuits, I've decided to tackle the recipes by selecting the first bake from each chapter, followed by the second recipe and so on. I'm not going to pick and choose; I'm determined to face my baking demons and learn how to do everything baking-related, even if the consequences are disastrous!
Everything will be photographed, with comment about how I found baking it, and a husband rating (to be taken with a pinch of salt as he has a very selective cake-tooth).


Tuesday, 6 November 2012

26. Chocolate Victoria Sandwich

At the request of my friend Rachel, who asked for either a Victoria Sponge or a chocolate cake, I rustled this up for afternoon tea. Because of the size of my tins, I had to adapt the recipe slightly (just by using the Victoria Sponge guidelines), but something I was really surprised about was the relatively small amount of cocoa used. It also wasn't sifted in with the other ingredients, but mixed with a little water first - not how I'm used to making a chocolate sponge! Not suprisingly, the cake didn't look very chocolatey when it came out, nor did it smell very chocolatey. Having the Devil's Food Cake as a comparison didn't help, but this (as you can see) was a very pale chocolate cake indeed! It did seem to bake differently compared to the Victoria Sponges I've made - it actually feel apart a bit when I put the buttercream on. I did flip it over a bit on the cooling rack though, trying to keep the indentations off the top of it, and know I shouldn't have done that. Lesson learnt: don't manhandle warm sponges! The filling and topping was just the usual buttercream, with some chocolate grated on top. It tasted nice, but just generically of 'cake'. It didn't feel like a chocolate cake experience to me at all!
Baker's verdict: a good cake, but not a yummy one. Easy to make, but definitely needs more cocoa!
Husband rating: 7/10 - nice sponge cake but nothing chocolatey about it.
 

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