Victoria Sponge

I am a really big fan of 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' so I absolutely adore anything that relates to afternoon tea. I love all the various different aspects, from the china used to the food presented. One of the cakes I always associated with this is the classic Victoria Sponge.

I think there has recently been a revival in interest for this traditional cake as I seem to find variations wherever I go. With this in mind and the recent summery weather, I thought I'd have a go at making one for my Mum's birthday.

There is a recipe in 'The River Cottage Family Cookbook' by Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall and Fizz Carr which I have used a couple of times before. It really is a fantastic recipe and makes the most delicious sponge for your cake. I would highly recommend purchasing a copy of this book.

Polly's Pantry Cake Stand

As well as making a cake for my Mum, I also needed to get her a present. I wanted something to relate to the cake so I thought a cake stand would be a fabulous idea. She used to collect the Royal Albert English Roses china so I did have a look on their website, but this was a lot more expensive than I had thought. They also don't actually sell the big cake stands, just the tiered afternoon tea ones so I couldn't do it anyway.

After shopping around I came to the conclusion that cake stands were far far more expensive than i had originally anticipated. I eventually found some that were affordable in John Lewis. There was one particular design that really caught my eye. It was from the range Polly's pantry. It was really sweet and delicately decorated with little hearts and small blue chickens. I thought this would suit my mum as its endearing and not too serious. Priced at £24 it was perfect.

I really went for it on the cake as well. I embraced the messy and rustic look and lavished plenty of cream and jam to sandwich in the middle. After I sprinkled sifted icing sugar over the top to complete the look. In my opinion it was an incredibly successful cake!