Halfterm Week - Sunday 29th May

About that cake...

It sort of worked. We had been invited to a 60th Birthday Party with a Great British Bake-Off theme - everyone to bring a "Showstopper" or "Signature Bake".

I planned a "Victoria Trifle".

In my mind's eye, it was a three-layer Victoria Sponge, with the centre cut out of the middle layer and replaced with a disc of strawberry jelly made with sliced strawberries. The layers would be have custard between them, and the topping would be cream and sprinkles.

So I did a test run using a two-egg Victoria sponge and only two layers. From which I learned:

1. If the cake tin is too shallow, you won't get decent layers

2. You can make a fairly decent cheat's creme pat from whipped cream folded into ready-made custard. I used what the local corner shop had on offer; tinned Ambrosia. Which was OK, but not excellent. For the real thing, use the fresh luxury vanilla version.

3. If you slice lots of strawberries into jelly, it takes an age to set. In fact the jelly didn't set until the next day  

4. Even when the jelly had set, it wouldn't be possible to cut a disc out of it. In fact it wouldn't turn out of the dish I had put it in, If I wanted to incorporate jelly into the cake, I would have to make it more concentrated, and set it in a suitable circle sort of contain without adding strawberries, or else just fill the cut out cake centre with squidgy spoonfuls of jelly, or just strawberries without the jelly, and accept that it would all come tumbling out when the cake was cut.

In the event neither of us felt up to going - we've both been plagued by a really nasty cold which has made us tired and lethargic and actually unpleasant (think sneezes and coughing and boxes of tissues) to be anywhere near. So I rang with apologies, and we ate Victoria sponge layered with jam and custard with jelly on the side. "Feed a cold and starve a fever", as they say.