New ideas! #Exciting

Hello again! Now I have slept and have had to endure the strenuous effort of reaching to the floor to pick up my lapustopus (laptop but in my house we have weird names for things as you will become used to), I am ready to blog.

So, I've decided that as well as this site being about my daily fails, it will also included really cool food recipes (because I really love food) and my tales of what it is like to be BRITISH! Now I know that even though we are a vair vair small country, there will undoubtedly be other people who know what it is like to be British ( I know hard to believe right?) and they will know what it is like to live in a place where it rains over 300 (!) days of the year. So, I hope that this website will allow people from all over the world to come and find out what living in the UK is like and if you already live here, please come tell me your experiences so we can discuss what being British is all about.

In the near future, I shall be discussing the following....

• Do we really drink that much tea?
• What's the Queen really like?
• London
• The accent
• Fishy and Chippy
• British Fashion
• The Fry up!

and much much more!

But for now, here is how to make that proper British Victoria Sponge!

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3 large free-range eggs at room temperature
• 225g/8oz caster sugar,
• 225g/8oz self-raising flour + 2 tsp baking powder sifted together
• 125g/4oz softened butter
• 100g/3 oz margarine
• A jar of good quality strawberry jam
• 200ml/7 fl oz whipping cream, whipped to firm peaks

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 180C/350 F/Gas 4.

Lightly grease 2 x 20cm/8” sandwich tins. Line the bottom with lightly greased baking parchment.
• Using a stand mixer, or electric hand mixer, mix together the eggs, sugar, flour and baking powder plus the softened butter and margarine until completely combined. The mixture should be a soft, dropping consistency. If you don’t’ have an electric mixer use a wooden spoon.
• Divide the cake batter evenly between the two cake tins. Lightly smooth the surface of the cake and pop them onto the middle shelf of the preheated oven. Cook for 25 minutes or until the cakes are well risen and golden brown on the surface. If the cakes are browning too quickly lower the temperature just slightly but do not be tempted to open the door.
• Once they are risen and brown you can open the door to check by gently pressing the centre of the cake it should spring back easily. Remove the cakes from the oven and place on a cooling rack for 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes the cakes should be shrinking away from the sides of the cake tins. Carefully remove the cakes from the tins and leave to cool completely on the cooling rack.
• Once cooled, place one cake cooked side down onto a plate. Cover with a thick layer of strawberry jam followed by an even thicker layer of whipped cream. Top with the second cake. Dredge with the icing sugar, and decorate with fresh strawberries if you wish. Serve with a nice cup of tea (proper British style!)

Tada!!!

For the website version, check out this linkage here:

http://britishfood.about.com/od/adrecipes/r/Classic-Victoria-Sponge-Cake-Recipe.htm

Love you all,

Bethan xx