The tale of the Tori Sponge...

A couple of days ago I casually whipped up an absolutely awesome (that's right, I'm not even ashamed of saying it!) Tori sponge that I thought I'd share with you in the hope that you'd believe me to be some sort of baking-Queen, despite this quite obviously not being the case! (I'm not even bordering on Princess territory,  maybe a baking-Lady at best!)

I turned to the one and only Mary Berry for the recipe (which you can find and follow here); it asks for double my previously-used quantities - 4 eggs to my 2 - which felt a little unusual, but my gosh does it make a good, proper sponge! It's an extremely easy recipe to follow as well, because it prescribes to the all-in-one method; you just whack it all in a bowl and mix! (although, let me tell you, that's easier said than done when you are me and only have the bowl from a set of scales to plonk everything in and a normal-sized metal spoon to mix it with!)

This sponge reminds me of the one my Nan makes (and I am partial to a piece of Nanny sponge!) Traditional if you will. I'm so used to adding vanilla to both the cake mixture and the buttercream that I had a mild panic when I realised I didn't have any and considered not making it at all! This cake, however, is darn perfect without it - it tastes exactly as a sponge should. The buttercream recipe I followed can be found here (note: I did not use cinnamon because I bloody HATE it! and also why the hell would I?!!) - I use a different recipe each time I make a cake because I always forget the measurements, which is rather annoying! Be careful (i.e. don't do a me, meaning the opposite of this advice) to add the hot water a little at a time, otherwise you'll end up with buttercream that oozes out of the cake after its been covered in cling-film (or you could just be a well-prepared normal person and pop the cake in a tin which is something I, of course, don't own!) re: the photo in the bottom left!

Anyway, I'd most definitely recommend making one for yourself. In less than a couple of hours you'll have a scrummy cake you'd be proud to share over a cuppa with old MB herself. What could be more perfect than that?!

Please excuse the different lighting - I made the cake at night but the two bottom-left photos were taken the following
day when I cut myself a good slab to have with my mid-morning cuppa :)