To expect better standards of the national trust!

[andpeggy29]

Bear with, this is suppose to be light hearted.

Me and dh went to one of our local national trust sites, as we were given couples membership for our wedding anniversary. I bloody love it!

We toured round the house and then headed to the cafe for obligatory cake n tea.
I had delicious pineapple and coconut cake, my dh classic Victoria sponge. When we sat down I pointed out there was no cream/buttercream in the middle. Just jam and sponge. He still enjoyed it, but we were both then joking, out of all places, NT is the place you would expect high standard execution of such a classic, British institution that is Vicky sponge!!!!

Where's the cream at? ,

My annoyance with NT cafes is that the little pots of jam are nice, but you can't get the labels off afterwards to re-use the little pots for glue or crafts or more jam or whatever. That's half the joy of ordering something with a little pot!

(A general curse on all jam-manufacturers who use unpeelable labels - I'm looking at you, IKEA - but especially on the NT, who ought to know better.)

I prefer them without cream.

The first time I made a Victoria Sandwich it was for a family tea. I didn't put cream in it because there were children coming and not all children like cream. Even the children whinged that there was no cream! If I use buttercream it has to be with lemon curd. Oh and you can freeze cream if it has been whipped.

Total rubbish IMHO

Vicky sandwich needs cream.

FWIW can i ask, is it worth getting, a NT membership?

Nt dont do the best food but have great toilets, stunning gardens and beautiful houses

The restaurant at Waddesdon has to be the best NT food. The champagne afternoon teas are amazing.

Soak the jam jars in boiling water to get the labels off @ArcheryAnnie

I’m always disappointed with NT cafes. The cafe at Wallington used to be pretty good - they served amazing giant sausage rolls with fried potato slices and baked beans. But they changed it to the usual disappointing, expensive, tiny portions NT fare a few years ago.

Please do not put any buttercream anywhere near my Victoria sponge.

I was once offered a cheese scone in a cream tea at Ham House because they had run out of normal ones

No cream? Where is this place I hate cream in cakes

Our local NT place is great, but I, too, am disappointed by their café. It isn't a patch on the one at our local arboretum in terms of niceness of cakes nor speed & quality of service.

@crackerjacket I love having National Trust membership, but I think it might depend on where in the country you are and how many properties are local to you. Although we use it quite a bit on holidays and to break up journeys.

I put clotted cream a nd strawberry jam in my Victoria Sandwiches (and on crumpets, drop scones, toast...)

I only want it if it's got jam and buttercream in it. The question is though, if that's not a Victoria sandwich, what is it I'm eating? Just cake with stuff in?

The service in NT cafes is usually monumentally awful. They are useless. Makes "two soups" look like swift and effective waitressing.

I cast scorn on these creamless creations. Cake with no cream is an abomination and should be treated as such.

I always assumed that the Victoria sandwich/sponge thing was more to do with the cake recipe, ie the easy to remember equal weight of sugar, fat, egg, flour, as opposed to sponge cake, which has more egg but less or no fat, and Madeira, which has different proportions again.

The Victoria sandwich recipe comes in useful in my household now I've discovered you can make a very passable pudding by slinging something sweet (syrup, marmalade, or fruit) in a basin, adding a 1-egg Victoria mix on top, and microwaving for 2-3 mins.Upend to serve, because the microwave doesn't give that nice golden brown look. Pudding in about 5 mins flat.

Team no cream here. Butter or otherwise!

Agree about Wray castle. Way below usual NT standards. Baked Apples and custard from the Hardwick estate, though was food of the Gods. (And I don't like custard on things)

buttercream is vile stuff anyway, should be outlawed!

Cake is cake - with or without cream is fine by me. I try not to discriminate.

Seguing (sp?) seamlessly from NT cakes to NT properties, has anyone visited Horsey Windpump? And did you manage to say it with a straight face?

I did have a lovely peppermint crunch cake/slice thing at Wray Castle last year.

Surely food in an NT café is always soup and a roll?

But I am also team no-cream.

Agree with PP that NT membership is good if you live somewhere with plenty of properties. We joined while we were still engaged but the NT lady who signed us up said we could have married couple membership (which was a thing then) and she wouldn't tell. It made us feel we were joining the NT in sin!