Wholemeal Victoria Sponge Cake

For the last meeting of the Clandestine Cake Club I went to the theme was the humble Victoria sponge cake. I couldn't decide what flavour to do. Should go with classic plain, coffee, citrus or a chocolate one? Instead I thought my twist on it would be a little more subtle and so I went with a change of flour. I swapped my usual white self-raising for wholemeal self-raising. When I usually make a Victoria sponge I use the all-in-one method but since wholemeal flour is naturally a little denser I did go with the creaming method this time and then folded in the flour. You can definitely taste the difference but I like wholemeal flour. If you're not a brown bread fan this perhaps is not for you but do give it try even if you smother it with lashings of jam and cream!

Equipment: 2 x 8in (20cm) round sandwich tins, large bowl, electric whisk/beaters, sieve

Ingredients

8oz (225g) Unsalted butter, softened or baking spread

8oz (225g) Golden caster sugar

4 Large eggs

8oz (225g) Wholemeal self-raising flour

2tsp (10ml) Baking powder

1tsp (5ml) Vanilla extract

Filling – your choice of jam, whipped cream or buttercream.

Method

1. Grease and line the tins.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4

3. Cream together the butter and sugar for several minutes.

4. Beat in the eggs one by one adding a little of the flour each time.

5. Sift over the flour and baking powder. Pour any remaining bran over the mixture.

6. Fold the flour into the mixture until it is all combined.

7. Transfer the mixture evenly into the two tins and lightly spread around the tins.

8. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the sponges are well risen.

9. Leave in the tins for a few minutes before turning out and leaving to cool completely on wire racks.

10. Once cool spread one layer with your chosen filling and top with the other layer.