PISTACHIO AND CITRUS CELEBRATION VICTORIA SPONGE

This cake is based on one of my all-time favourites – a Victoria sponge. It is such a versatile cake that can be transformed into a huge variety of delicious cakes, with the addition of a few ingredients.

My first memory of a Victoria sponge was my mum making one by hand – no electric mixer just good old-fashioned beating with a wooden spoon. It was usually an orange zest and coconut-flavoured cake and it was topped with orange-flavoured water icing then sprinkled with coconut. I loved it and if I make it now I am transported back in time to being a 4-year-old with sticky fingers and crumbs of coconut down my front.

I’m going to use the all-in-one method for this cake.

Serves 12-16

10 minutes to make the cake, cooking time 35-38 minutes, 30 minutes crumb stage (chilling) and 20 minutes for assembly and decorating.

What you will need

Either a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer, cake turntable (optional),

4 Victoria sponge tins 23cm (9-inch) diameter (these are usually shallow). A cake side scraper or a pallet knife, a piping bag and a 2D piping nozzle. All the ingredients should be at room temperature so take the ingredients from the fridge the night before you need them.

Ingredients

For the sponge

300g eggs (weighed out of shells - this is usually 5-6 eggs)

300g caster sugar

300g soft margarine

300g self-raising flour

12g baking powder

50g pistachio paste

3 teaspoons pistachio extract

Zest of an orange and lemon

2 tablespoons Bottlegreen Citrus cordial or similar

A little sunflower oil and flour to dust the tins

Tip - don’t worry if it is a little bit under or over the 300g all you need to do is put the same weight in of the other ingredients, e.g. 289g of eggs, 289g sugar etc.

For the filling

300g unsalted butter at room temperature cut into small cubes

50g cream cheese

800g sifted icing sugar

2 teaspoons of pistachio extract

A little green gel colour

150g pistachio curd

For the cake syrup

100ml Bottlegreen citrus cordial

Decoration

50g finely chopped pistachios

4 tablespoons pistachio curd

6 viola flower heads – these are edible flowers

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 160C fan assisted, 180C, 350F, gas mark 4

2 Weigh the eggs into a bowl and add the same weight of sugar and margarine. Sift the flour and baking powder and add to the bowl.

3 Add pistachio paste, pistachio extract, orange and lemon zest.

4 Gently begin to beat the mixture to combine the ingredients, turn up to full and beat for 1 minute, switch off and allow the mixture to stand (This allows the caster sugar to dissolve into the mixture which gives the cake a softer texture when baked).

5 Line, grease and flour the baking tins.

6 Continue to beat the mixture for 2 minutes. It’s important not to over-beat as this will knock out the precious air you need in the cake to make a light sponge.

7 Add the cordial to the mixture, folding in with a metal spoon.

8 There should be a total of around 1290g of mixture. Place a baking tin on the scales, zero the scales and weigh 320g into each sponge tin.

9 Place the baking tins in the oven and bake for 35-38 minutes. The cakes are baked when they are evenly and lightly golden and if you listen to them they only whisper a crackle not shout out.

10 Remove the tins from the oven and place on a cooling rack. With a sharp knife and in one continuous movement, loosen the cakes from their tins and leave for two minutes to cool a little. Tip - To remove a cake from a tin hold one side of the tin with one hand and tap the opposite side of the tin with your other hand – this will loosen the cake even further.

11 Place a parchment round on the top of the cake and tip onto a cooling rack (Using the parchment prevents the cake from getting marked with the cooling rack pattern.). Flip the cake back onto another cooling rack and allow it to cool completely.

To fill the cake

1 Place the butter and cream cheese in the stand mixing bowl and beat on medium speed for 5 minutes until it is light and fluffy.

2 Turn the speed down to a quarter and gradually add the icing sugar a dessert spoon at a time leaving a few seconds between each addition. Use a scraper to push the mixture back into the bowl.

3 Add the 150g pistachio curd, extract and colour, turn up to full and beat for 5 minutes. The buttercream should be firm enough to spread and to pipe on easily.

4 At this point, taste and add more extract and colour and add more icing sugar to adjust the texture.

To assemble

1 Place one of the cakes on a cake board having first placed a little cream on the base – this will hold the cake firmly on the board. If you have a cake turntable place the cake board onto it.

2 Pour the 100ml of citrus cordial into a bowl and brush the first cake evenly (using approx 1/3 of the cordial).

3 Using a spatula evenly spread about 3 tablespoons of buttercream onto the cake. Next spread a heaped tablespoon of pistachio curd over the buttercream. Repeat this 3 more times for each cake, placing one on the other, until the cake is stacked evenly and level.

4 Spread a thin layer of buttercream evenly around the cake then place in a fridge to firm for 30 minutes – this is called the crumb stage. Remove the cake from the fridge and spread the second layer of buttercream around the sides and top of the cake using a pallet knife or a cake side scraper to give smooth sides.

5 Place the remaining buttercream in a piping bag with a 2D nozzle, pipe 12 roses or rosettes around the cake, place the viola flowers around the cake then sprinkle with the chopped pistachios. Place in the fridge for a further 15 minutes before serving.

6 This cake can be stored in a cake box or cake carrier for up to a week. You can open-freeze and then place it in a box where it will keep for up to a month but it is best eaten fresh.