Victorious Sponge

Every Victoria sponge I've tried to make since I left home has failed. I followed the instructions to the letter and it always came out as a hard, crusty, un-risen disaster. Once I made 4 sponges just so they'd get to the right height for a normal sponge.

This weekend I made my first successful and GORGEOUS Victoria sponge! The secret? A recipe off YouTube, lob it all in a bowl together and don't really think about it!

200g self raising flour
200g castor sugar
200g butter (mine was slightly salted)
4 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp strawberry jam
1 tbsp icing sugar

1. Mix the ingredients except the icing sugar and jam in a large bowl
2. Divide between 2 lined cake tins, which are about as wide as my hand span
3. Bake at 160°C for 25-30 minutes or until risen and golden
4. Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing from the tins
5. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack
6. Sandwich together with strawberry jam then dust the icing sugar through a sieve over the top

Ta daaaah!

PB&J Bars

This recipe for Peanut Butter and Jelly bars is courtesy of The Boy Who Bakes, Edd Kimber. I tried it, and it works - a treat! The photos are of my attempt at his fab recipe!

450g Plain Flour

300g Unsalted Butter

150g Caster Sugar

1/4 tsp salt

150g smooth peanut butter

250g jam (choice up to you) (I used strawberry because it was on offer!)

1. Press a piece of foil into the base and up the sides of a 9×13 baking pan. Preheat the oven to 350F/175C.

2. Place the flour, butter, sugar and salt into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse until the ingredients form a dough. (I used my Braun Multiquick Handblender with the big jug attachment, and it worked well).

3. Tip the dough out onto the worksurface and lightly knead until it becomes uniform. Remove a third of the dough and wrap it in clingfilm and refrigerate until needed. Press the remaining dough evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 mins or until lightly golden around the edges. leave to cool for 20 mins.

4. Spread the peanut butter evenly on the cooled base then repeat with the jam. Remove the third of dough from the fridge and crumble into pieces and scatter evenly over the jam. Bake for a further 25-30 mins or until the crumbled dough starts to colour a little bit. Cool completely before cutting into 12 large squares.

Here's Edd's website if you want to try more of his lovely recipes.