A not quite classic Victoria sponge cake. but a most delicious one. This hot chocolate Victoria sandwich is made with drinking chocolate, so it’s lightly chocolatey, but not dominant. It’s filled with vanilla apricot jam and whipped cream.
Whilst leafing through How to be a Domestic Goddess the other night, I spotted Nigella’s treatise on Victoria sponges. As it happened, she didn’t have a chocolate one, but I was inspired by her to create my own for the Cornwall Clandestine Cake Club (CCC). The theme was afternoon tea, so what could be more appropriate than a Victoria sandwich?
Hot Chocolate Victoria Sandwich
I was also inspired by Karen’s drinking chocolate cake over at Lavender and Lovage. The result? I decided to use a drinking chocolate mix rather than cocoa. So here you have it, my hot chocolate Victoria sandwich cake.
As I was planning on using the vanilla apricot jam I made before Christmas, I wanted the chocolate to take a lighter note and not be the dominant flavour. I reckoned this would allow the apricot and vanilla flavours to shine through.
It all turned out exactly as I was hoping. Except for a minor disaster during the baking process.
One of my cakes broke up a little when I turned it out. How very annoying. This is a rare occurrence for me as I use silicone moulds to bake my cakes in. I’m always taken aback when it happens and not best pleased. Luckily, I managed to rescue it by gluing most of it back together with the jam and using it as the bottom layer.
My goodness that vanilla apricot jam is good. The cake’s not bad either. Others thought so too and demonstrated their appreciation by coming up for seconds. No mean feat with the vast array of cakes available.
Afternoon Tea at Lanhydrock
Our CCC event took place at Lanhydrock. Lanhydrock is a vast and beautiful National Trust estate and it’s just up the road from us – in Cornwall terms anyway. We held our meeting in one of the offices away from the main house, a pleasant corner of the estate I’d not seen before. We were in the converted stables, recently revamped, and they made an excellent location for our gathering.
The cakes were many, splendid and varied. To top it all we had an informative and entertaining talk by Sue Bamford on the surprisingly dramatic history of afternoon tea. Who knew that a married woman in Victorian times could entertain a male guest in her dressing gown for tea, but was unable to do so fully dressed for dinner?
The Cakes
Many thanks to Ellie Michell for continuing to organise our wonderful cakey gatherings. As I said the cakes were many and varied and I rather lost the plot on what they were, who had baked them and whether I’d photographed them or not. So here follows a random selection:
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this hot chocolate Victoria sandwich sponge cake, please let me know how it went in the comments. I would also appreciate it if you could rate the recipe. Do you have any recommendations or advice for making these cakes? If you post pictures of your creations on social media, please use the hashtag #tinandthyme so I can see them.
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Choclette x
Hot Chocolate Victoria Sandwich – The Recipe
Hot Chocolate Victoria Sponge with Apricot Jam and Cream
Ingredients
- 250 g unsalted butter
- 240 g golden caster sugar (I used homemade vanilla sugar)
- 4 large eggs (I used duck eggs)
- 110 g wholemeal flour
- 100 g plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 50 g drinking chocolate
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 4 tbsp milk
- 4 tbsp apricot jam (I used my homemade vanilla apricot jam)
- 150 ml double cream (heavy cream)
Instructions
- Cream the butter with the sugar until very pale and fluffy.250 g unsalted butter, 240 g golden caster sugar
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing in a little of the flour in between each egg to prevent curdling.4 large eggs
- Sift in the flours, drinking chocolate and baking powder, then stir into the sugar mixture.110 g wholemeal flour, 100 g plain flour (all purpose flour), 50 g drinking chocolate, 2 tsp baking powder
- Add enough milk to make a loose, but not runny mixture.4 tbsp milk
- Divide the batter between two 21 cm round cake silicone moulds or lined tins. Bake in the middle of the oven at 180℃ (350℉, Gas 4) for about 25 minutes or until the top of the cakes are firm to the touch and a cake tester came out more or less clean.
- Leave to cool for ten minutes, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.
- Spread one half of the cooled cakes with the apricot jam.4 tbsp apricot jam
- Whisk the cream until soft peaks form.150 ml double cream (heavy cream)
- Spread cream over the top of the jam and place the other cake on top.
- Sprinkle with caster sugar, if liked.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Sharing
Inspired by Nigella as it was, I’m sending my hot chocolate Victoria sandwich off for Forever Nigella. Created by Maison Cupcake, the theme this month is Easter. And I reckon this would make a perfect cake for Easter tea. What do you reckon?
As I used four very large duck eggs which were coming to the end of their useful life, I’m entering this to the No Waste Food Challenge. This was created by Kate of Turquoise Lemons but is hosted, this month, by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary. The theme is eggs.
Although most of my bakes are entirely made from scratch, I don’t often remember to submit them to Javelin Warrior’s Made with Love Mondays. Luckily, I’ve remembered this time.
Emma Nixon says
Wow. Just fancy a slice with a cuppa tea.. Looks delicious
Tracy K Nixon says
WOW all those cakes look mouth watering! I must admit I enjoy the decorating of the cakes more than the baking. I am very arty so presentation counts everytime. You always present your baking so well too – a true expert! Thank you!
Maya Russell says
I love Victoria Sponge. Your one is great.
Elizabeth says
The cream sounds yummy! Hope you will be joining us again this month for Forever Nigella.
http://agirlinherkitchen.blogspot.com/2013/04/forever-nigella-colourful.html
Jen Price says
This looks fantastic, until I saw Karen’s recent post and this one I didn’t realise you could actually use drinking chocolate in baking. A lot of recipes always seem to be quite adament that you must use cocoa powder so I’m going to have to give this a go now. The vanilla spricot jam also sounds very tasty, nothing better than a cake with homemade jam 🙂 Thanks for entering into Forever Nigella
Alida says
I really like apricots. When I go over to Italy in the summer I can eat as many as they can fit in my belly 😉 they are gorgeous fruit. Pairing them with chocolate is a great idea. Really lovely post Choclette.
Katharine says
Gorgeous cake and inspired flavours as always, chocolate with that vanilla apricot jam sounds simply heavenly!
Caroline says
Looks like a delicious cake. I have to confess that I usually skip over apricot jam when filling chocolate cakes, for some reason my mind immediately jumps to red/black fruit. I’ll have to give apricot a go too. Looks like you had a fab time and a wonderful selection of different cakes.
Dee Johnson says
Heavenly, i could just die looking at all of those lovely cakes. You are such a talented baker. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Bridget says
Wow! Your whole site is drooltastic.
Bridget.
Victoria Lee says
Do you notice much of difference in taste using duck eggs rather than hen’s? I love duck eggs poached etc, but never think to use in baking, probably because of the cost… and Apricot and Chocolate – never considered it but inspired pairing of flavours! x
Charlotte Charlotte'sKitchenDiary says
Fantastic! This sounds like a lovely combination of flavours. Your CCC cakes look so good – how lucky to have your meeting at Lanhydrock!!
Javelin Warrior says
What a beautiful cake, Choclette! I love the rustic layering and the contrast of color between the cream and cake… This sounds delicious and I’m so happy you remembered to share 😉 And love the new banner for your blog!
Poyma says
Apricot jam is the best! But Id never thought of pairing it with chocolate. Thanks Choclette for another wonderful visul feast
Foodycat says
That’s an amazing array of cakes! I love a bit of apricot jam in a chocolate cake.
hungryhinny says
I’m so glad I managed to bring a slice of this home with me – it was about the only thing that got me through my rubbish day yesterday!
I can confirm that the apricot jam is AMAZING and I will definitely be making some soon…
Debs Dust Bunny says
Oh My Goodness! That cake looks SO delicious! All the cakes look wonderful, but OH MY GOODNESS!
Elizabeth says
This sounds delicious! I too had a cake break up on me recently when cooked in a silicone mould. It was a double layer cake and BOTH cakes stuck the mould! I am wondering if my buttering the moulds first was to blame… I too was most displeased. I love that you’ve used duck eggs in this recipe, and drinking chocolate – it sounds fantastic! Thanks for entering it into the no waste food challenge!