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Mary Berry's 'Easy' Secret To The Best Victoria Sponge

Mary Berry's 'Easy' Secret To The Best Victoria Sponge

Victoria sponge cake Mary Berry has shared that her most beloved cake is a classic Vicky sponge. “If it’s a favourite bake, it would be the Victoria sandwich,” she said during a Q&A at The Castle Hotel, Windsor, while promoting her new book Mary 90: My Very Best Recipes. But according to the baking legend, many of us are overcomplicating the iconic recipe. She said that though her mother used to make her own version of the recipe, Mary’s version has “changed over the years that I’ve been baking” – and, she said, her recipe is “much easier” and “better”. Mary doesn’t bother creaming her ingredients separately Though common culinary wisdom has it that creaming butter and sugar together before adding the rest of the ingredients leads to a lighter, fluffier cake, Mary no longer bothers with the extra steps. “I remember my mother making it, creaming the butter and sugar until it’s all beautifully light in colour, adding the eggs,” she said. “And as the eggs were added, it might curdle the flour in it.” But in the ’70s, the Cordon Bleu-trained cook said she tried “chucking ... everything in” the bowl at once, and found “the result was better” than the more involved recipe. “From then on,” she said, “I’ve been using” the all-in-one method. Indeed, in her newest book, she recommends placing the fat, sugar, flour, and eggs into a mixing bowl and beating the lot for “about two minutes ... until beautifully smooth and lighter in colour”. Any other tips? Yes. Mary said she prefers using baking spread to butter in the recipe. “Soft butter could be used, but we find baking spread gives a lighter rise,” she shared. The baking pro said the spread should be kept in the fridge until needed, unlike butter, which fares better at room temperature for recipes like these. Related... I Tried Mary Berry's Secret To The Best Stewed Apples, And I'm Sold Mary Berry's 'Posh' Secret To The Best Roasted Vegetables Mary Berry And Gordon Ramsay Both Use This Trick For Perfect Yorkshire Puddings