Victoria Eton mess sponge

I wanted to come up with something special for my blog’s second birthday and this is it! In the two years since I launched my alter ego on the world I haven’t made a Victoria sponge as I always default to my favourite sponge recipe.

While there’s nothing wrong with a classic Victoria sponge i.e. sponge filled with either jam and cream or buttercream, I wanted something with a little more pizzazz and more fitting for a dessert. Taking the classic Victoria sponge filling of strawberry and cream, I went one stage further and used Eton mess as a filling. Eton Mess is a classic dessert in its own right and comprises of strawberries, cream and crushed meringue.

The hidden crunch of the meringue in the creamy filling compliments the sponge perfectly and was a lovely mix of tastes and textures.

Don’t worry about having any leftover – keep it in the fridge and it stays just as delicious for a day or so. If you wish to keep it longer than that hang your head in shame and vow, right now, to increase your cake consumption!

Ingredients
For the sponges:
200g caster sugar
200g unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 eggs
200g self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons milk

For the Eton mess filling:
6 meringue nests, crushed (I used Marks & Spencer’s as they use only egg white and sugar i.e. just like if you’d made them yourself...which of course you could if you wanted!)
225g strawberries, washed and hulled
1 tablespoon icing sugar
300ml double cream

Method

- Preheat the oven to 190°C/fan oven 170°C/375°F/Gas mark 5.

- Line the base of two 20cm round sandwich tins with baking paper.

- Place all the ingredients for the sponge into a bowl and beat together until smooth and well combined.

- Divide the mixture evenly between the tins and level the surfaces.

- Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out cleanly. Mine took 25 minutes.

- Leave to cool on a wire rack before turning out of the tins.

- While the sponges can be made in advance and stored in an airtight container, the Eton Mess filling can only be made when you need it.

- Blitz half the strawberries in a blender or processor to make puree.

- Stir in the icing sugar then pass the puree through a nylon sieve.

- Chop the remaining strawberries into small chunks.

- Whip the cream until you have soft peaks.

- Fold in the crushed meringues and the chopped strawberries, then fold in the puree.

- Place one sponge on a serving plate and cover with the Eton Mess. Don’t worry if you can’t use it all – simply spoon any leftovers into small glasses and you have a dessert for another meal!

- Top off with the second sponge.

- Dust with icing sugar, if desired.

- Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have made.

- Eat.