Chocolate Victoria sponge cake

This delicious and very easy to make Victoria sponge was the first layer cake I baked in years: after my sister became an adult and started to celebrate her birthday with her friends (and now boyfriend – I am definitely getting old) I had no excuses to bake layer cakes; the hubby and I both like to celebrate our birthdays by going out to dinner, and my brother and I are no longer close as we used to be. So there was no one left to bake a birthday cake for. :(

Last week, however, I received some great news and decided to bake a layer cake to celebrate it – Annie Bell’s beautiful yet simple Victoria sponge caught my attention, and I felt really glad while making it. Layer cakes are one of my favorite things to bake and after I finished spreading the icing on top of it I thought to myself: “I should make layer cakes more often – birthdays or no birthdays”; after all, I have so many wonderful layer cake recipes at home just waiting to be prepared, it would be a waste not to – it’s like having a Ferrari without knowing how to drive (or having Christina Aguilera’s voice and record the songs she does). :D

Chocolate Victoria sponge cake
slightly adapted from the magnificent Annie Bell's Baking Bible (I bought mine here)

Cake:
1 ¼ cups (175g) self-rising flour*
½ cup (45g) cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon table salt
1 cup (2 sticks/226g) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups + 2 tablespoons (224g) granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100ml whole milk, room temperature

Filling:
100g unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup (105g) icing sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons cocoa powder, sifted
pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing:
100g dark chocolate, chopped – I used one with 53% cocoa solids
2 tablespoons (14g) unsalted butter
1/3 cup (30g) cocoa powder, sifted
50ml water
1 tablespoon honey

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter two 20cm (8in) round cake pans, line the bottom with a circle of baking paper and butter the paper as well.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter until soft. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and scrape the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. At low speed, mix the dry ingredients, then the milk, and mix just until incorporated. Divide the batter between the two pans, smooth the surface, then bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool completely in the pans over a wire rack.

Filling: in the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter, icing sugar, cocoa and salt until fluffy and lighter in color – scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the egg yolk, then the vanilla, and beat for 1 minute longer.
Assemble the cake before making the icing: unmold one of the cakes and place onto a serving plate or cake stand. Spread the filling evenly on top of the cake. Unmold the other cake and place it over the filling.

Icing: place chocolate and butter in a medium bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water – do not let the bottom of the bowl touch the water. Stir occasionally until smooth and melted. At the same time, combine the cocoa, water and honey in a small saucepan and heat until it starts to boil, whisking to dissolve the cocoa. Add this to the melted chocolate and blend to a thick icing. Immediately spread the icing over the cake (if you wait too long the icing might lose its shine).
This cake keeps well in a cake tin for several days.

* instead of self-rising flour, I used 175g all purpose flour + 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder (in addition to the 2 teaspoons of baking powder called for in the recipe)

Serves 8-10