ALLCAPS COOKBOOK: Mango-Passionfruit Victoria Spongewich (Patreon)

Mango-Passionfruit Victoria Spongewich

I made a friend on the island! This is basically like finding a TV with a working Netflix subscription in the desert so it’s a PRETTY BIG DEAL. Ok, not really. But kind of. 

Anyway, my noo fran has a daughter and the daughter had a birthday so I volunteered to be Cake Lady for the occasion.

Of course one problem with being Cake Lady is that while I can bake things that taste very good, I am shit garbage at icing them and making them look pretty. It always looks like an angry child was acting out her aggression on it.

But! There is a cake that is delicious and shortcuts that! It is very British and very summery and very good and very quick to make as well. Some people say Victoria Sandwich, some Victoria Sponge, it doesn’t really matter, and if you’ve watched The Great British Bake-Off AND YOU SHOULD, then you’ve probably seen one. It’s basically like an inverted cake, with the frosting on the inside.

But since I can’t leave any recipe be, I’ve made some alterations over the years to make it a little more interesting than plain white cake. So this is the classic British recipe, with American interference.

Now, whether you like the creamy frosting bit to be fresh whipped cream or buttercream is a matter of taste and debate. For myself, I like buttercream fine, as long as it’s not vanilla. I find it hard to forget that I’m just eating a SHIT TON OF STRAIGHT-UP BUTTER if it doesnt have chocolate or something in it. So I tend to go for whipped cream. However, whipped cream does have a drawback, in that this cake will not keep if you use it. The cream will absorb slowly into the cake if you leave it overnight so, um…you’ll just have to eat it all at once. Or use buttercream.

Ingredients

200g sugar

200g softened butter

200g self-rising flour 

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp whole milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract or innards of one vanilla bean

Zest of one lemon

Glaze:

Half a mango, pureed

3 tbsp passionfruit curd

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup water

Filling:

JUST A WHOLE DAMN MESS of raspberry preserves. The more the better. Really slap it on there. 

Fresh sweetened whipped cream or vanilla buttercream. (To make whipped cream, whip one cup heavy cream on high in a cold bowl with 2 tbsp sugar and a bit of vanilla until stiff. There’s lots of buttercream recipes out there—I trust you to find your favorite)

Powdered sugar to garnish

DOING THINGS

Preheat oven to 350. Grease two round cake pans and line with parchment paper. Be sure to get the sides extra slick.

In a large bowl or mixer, whip butter and sugar until pale and thick. Add milk, eggs one at a time, then dry ingredients, including zest. You may have to add a bit of hot water to loosen it up into a consistency that drops from the spatula into the pan.

Spoon out equally divided into two pans. If you don’t want Mary Berry to be disappointed in you, weigh it to make sure it’s evenly split and smooth surface with a rubber spatula to make it as flat as possible.

Bake for 25-30 minutes and let cool.

While cakes are baking, combine mango, passionfruit curd, sugar, and water in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, then put on low heat for about 15 minutes until a syrup is formed that coats the back of a spoon. Set aside to cool. When the heat has subsided, strain the fruit pulp out. 

Remove cakes from oven and let rest five minutes. Slice the tops so that they are completely flat then turn out onto plates to finish cooling.

Now, it’s awkward, but you’ll want to do this on the side that faced up in the oven, so you’ll have to flip the cakes again. Then, spoon about 1/3 of the syrup onto the cakes. Let absorb completely, then repeat. Use leftover syrup to make mango-passionfruit soda! 

While syrup is absorbing, make whipped cream or buttercream and proceed to assembly.

Assembly is super challenging.

Place one half of cake on your serving plate. SLAP ON ALL THEM RASPBERRIES JAMS. Then SLAP ON ALL THAT CREAM. 

If you want it to look fancy you can pipe the cream on using a plastic bag with one corner cut off. But spreading is fine too. Place the other cake on top and sift powdered sugar in a light layer over the whole thing to finish.

EAT IT.