Wednesday 13 June 2012

Valencia Orange and Lemon Victoria Sponge



I made this cake for a colleague's leaving do. I wanted something simple, light and refreshing so I thought about making a lemon cake which is one of my favourite cakes in the world. However, the letter for AlphaBakes this month is "V" and I got to thinking about Valencia oranges. So I made a Valencia orange and lemon Victoria sponge cake - a double V! It's a basic sponge cake with the addition of orange and lemon zest and a little juice sandwiched with a citrus buttercream. The cake was delightfully light, moist and tangy.

AlphaBakes is a monthly baking/blogging challenge hosted this month by myself and co hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes on alternate months. Basically we pick a random letter each month and you need to submit a bake that contains that letter as a main ingredient or name of bake. This month we are baking with 'V'.  Have you made yours yet? There's still time as the deadline is 25th June. 




 It's definitely Valencia oranges! :) 

 adding orange and lemon zest to the batter

 citrus buttercream 

 Luckily I found these orange and lemon pieces to decorate



For the cake

175g butter
175g golden caster sugar
175g self raising flour
3 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon of fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice

For the buttercream filling

40g butter
100g icing sugar
zest of 1/2 orange and zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon of fresh orange juice (adjust according to consistency required)

  • Preheat the oven to 180C.
  • Grease and line 2 x 18cm round sandwich tins. 
  • Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  • Add the eggs, one at a time.
  • Mix in the flour and baking powder.
  • Finally add in the juices and zests. 
  • Divide evenly into the prepared tins and bake in the pre heated oven for 18-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. 
  • Allow to cool in the tin before turning out to a wire rack to cool completely. 
  • Make the buttercream filling by mixing all the ingredients together until smooth.
  • Spread the buttercream on one cake and top with the second cake.
  • Dust the cake with icing sugar and decorate as desired.

Update 19/6/12

I am also entering this to Calendar Cakes which is a new month blogging challenge hosted this month by Rachel from Dolly Bakes and on alternate months by Laura from Laura Loves Cakes. The idea is to link up seasonal treats throughout the year and the theme for June is Euro 2012. As Spain won last night, I think this Valencia cake is appropriate for the challenge.




34 comments:

  1. I love this victoria sponge I love lemons and oranges!!

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    1. Thanks me too - citrus is one of my favourite flavours :)

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  2. Looks delicious!

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  3. Love the fab flavours of orange and lemons. Bookmarking this one.

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  4. V would definitely be a tough letter but you definitely did it perfectly! :D I'm mad for citrus in baking :)

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    1. Thanks :) I really had to think quite hard for V! I love citrus too :)

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  5. Really clever to use Valencia oranges. I love citrus and this looks a fab Victoria sponge. Brilliant Alphabake! :)

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    1. Thanks I was quite pleased when I thought of it as everyone else had the same idea with Viennese!

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  6. A really inspired letter 'V' for the AlphaBakes challenge, and a lovely summery flavour for the cake too.

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    1. Thanks I was so excited when I thought of it :)

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  7. a simple orange sponge cake like this is pure joy!... it's that wonderfully sherbetty icing and those nuggets of peel that make this so appealing... I love it... nice V entry!

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    1. This is one of my favourite cakes - simple and delicious! I thought about victoria plums too but had these oranges to hand :)

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  8. mmmmm this looks delish, I don't make enough citrus flavoured cakes

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    1. Thanks I love baking with citrus especially lemons :)

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  9. SIMPLY "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW"
    the frosting looks like HEAVEN

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    1. Thanks. The frosting was delicious - I wish there was more!

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  10. Very fun and perfect for Alphabakes! I made some vanilla wafers before the challenge, but I am out of "v" ideas!

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    1. Vanilla wafers sound great! Feel free to link them up. V is quite difficult... vanilla and viennese seem to be the most popular so far.

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  11. VERY clever Ros, a double V! LOVELY recipe and I adore citrus in cakes! FABULOUS as always. Karen

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    1. Thanks Karen I had a sudden brainwave :) I love citrus too for eating and baking!

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  12. A lovely citrus cake never fails to tempt me....delicious!

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  13. OMG this looks amazing and I love how I have all of the ingredients at home!! :) i can't wait to try this recipe Ros and hehe i've never heard of Valencia oranges we only just get Navel oranges hehe

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    1. Valencia oranges are from Spain but you can use any orange. This is a great recipe if you need something simple and quick!

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  14. I'm just getting ready to post the LINK-UP for MSC's Roasted Banana Cupcakes! Thanks for the selection and I hope you'll bake along!

    Rachel

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    1. I've posted my link today. Hope to see your bake later.

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  15. This sounds wonderful. I love citrus flavor in baked goods.

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  16. Love these combination of citrus that so ever refreshing! Lovely & delicious! :)

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  17. Orange and lemon together - I can't think of many better combinations... I bet this had a lovely background "zing" going on!

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    1. They are a great combination and yes there was a lovely 'zing' to the cake :)

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  18. Thanks for entering Calendar Cakes...if you could just send a virtual slice in this direction for testing too, that would be great! :-)

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  19. Ooh bells of St Clemens! Wonderful!

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