Rules for Village Show Victoria Sponge Cake

[Slubberdegullion]

So I am taking the plunge and am going to enter a Victoria Sponge Cake into our local village show.

I'm not pussy-footing around with lemon curd. Oh no, straight into the Blue Riband event.

But I am a little afraid as I know there are rules. And these rules are not written down. If you have to ask, well you shoudn't be entering (well that's what I am sensing).

So I'm going to ask in happy annonymity here.

Size (18 or 20cm)?
Butter or marg?
What type of jam?
Cream filling?
Icing sugar or caster sugar on the top?
Doilly? (Sp?)

Seasoned village show entrants (or judges) your help gladly recieved.

suzywong that is wonderful. Thank you so much. Non imprinted cake now guaranteed by MN knowledge and generosity of spirit.

I now am off to have tea at a posh country hall. Will order VSC if they have it, disect and report back later.

Many many thanks to you all.

LOL - BBC1 now - Village Shows. Have seen shallots, now flower arranging. Am waiting with bated breath for the cake comp!

no VSC this week. I did love the shallots that must drop thro' the hole by the strength of their own weight.

I'm holding out hope that my very nglected potato plants that are squidged in behind my compost bins will turn up an amusingly shaped one.

Did you see the jam/cake judges?
Woah scarey!!!!
They spat somebody's cake out because it was "disgusting"
I've never spat cake out in my life!(not gone back for another slice,maybe,but spit it out?NEVER!)
No VSC as yet though,maybe next week?

Yes very frightening (although deep deep down I yearn to become an experienced WI show cake judge).

Will def. need to tune in next week (unless VSC had been done already, first episode I watched was tonight).

One thing I just thought of was to use organic eggs.

I remember someone form work telling me about the debate that raged at the local horticultural society for years.

Is a Victoria Sponge 1 cake, cut in half and sandwiched with jam or two separate cakes.

He used to ask the question at dull comittee meatings and watch some of the older members go off about it.

pmsl at entire thread!

Right, am off to write prize-winning debut novel inspired by VSC crisis. Will give you all a MN name-check in the acknowledgements

slayerette i think the Calendar Girls beat you to it - One of them famously won a VSC competition with an M&S cake

I too felt I could not stand the shame of poor comments on my first show. DD2 (17) and I got round this by sidling into the show tent at a busy time of day, circling the cake table from afar while pretending an interest in the knitted craft, and jerking swift glances over to see if we could spot what sort of card was beside my offering. It was at this point that DD reminded me how DD1 had taken a bite of one of the test cakes the previous nights and spat it out, crying 'this is truly disgusting!' (this is no lie) but we managed to calm ourselves by remembering that a) DD1 is very fussy and b) had probably encountered an unfortunate pocket of baking powder (which I won't be using this year as from comments here I see it's probably Infra Dig.)

I jumped like someone caught in the act of a crime when someone I knew spoke to me as we were doing our circling/peering. It took us AGES to get up the courage to get close enough to face up to our judgement.

Also watched the Great British VS last night and noted that the jam must not be 'doubly sealed'!! I'm entering the jam class this year - does this mean a wax disc AND a cellophane top should not be used? or did they just mean no wax with a screw top? Are those chequered squares of material which look so pretty considered an unforgiveable crime which will have everyone pointing and sniggering?

Do I really want to put myself through this again? Or shall I just vicariously enjoy Slubber's experience?

slub do you think salted or unsalted butter? i like salted myself as enjoy the contrast with jam, but judges may prefer unadulterated sweetness. hmm. also i have got silicon cake tins, they're dead good.

have they given instruction for presetnation of chutney? i believe there are lots of rules about lids waxed papers and little covers on jam/ marmalade, it would be too awful to be out on a technicality.

sorry oenophile i started typing mine abuot an hour ago!

i think you are right re tops, wax + cellophane OR lid no wax but i think safer no lid becuase there is somethign different for chutney and possibly marmalade. mil knew all this stuff but died so have noone to ask. also i live in deepest london, our local fete is more deep fried chilli and deafening rap music than vsc.

There's something about not using metal lids on chutney/pickles because the vinegar can corrode the metal - can't remember what you're supposed to do though.
If doing fabric covers put them over the cellophane cover. The judges made a big fuss about having clean jars and nice labels.

Love this thread!

ok - i'd recommend sifting the flour twice - into the wighing bowl & then into the mixing bowl. cream the butter first - pref by hand as you're less likely to miss out bits, but with hand held mixer if not. then fold in a couple of spoons of flour & add eggs one at a time - i crack them into another bowl & give them a quick 'fluff' with a fork, that way they have plenty of ari in them. then fold in the flour witha metal spoon (not plastic or wooden - their blunt edges will burst too many air bubbles). you can taste baking powder, so use sr flour.
line the cake tin with 2 layers of greasproof paper & make sure the oven is the correct temp. ideally each cake needs to be in the exact centre - or one side gets cooked more than another - so do each ahlf separarately. before cooking putting the cake in the oven, left about 2 feet off the work surface & DROP it!! (scary) - stops any BIG air bubbles. don't put a prong in to test it - it will show.
cake should have risen, but not a big lump in the middle - as even as possible.
when you turn it out, have a FINE teac cloth on the cooling rack - allows air to escape withoug leaving grid marks. must have NO grid marks on top & ideally there shouldn't be that layer of crust left in the tin - should have come out with the cake! ( i have never achieved this!)
raspeberry jam - warm it & sive it before spreading it - no pips get through & spreads more easily.
btw, i have only once bothered to do all this for a cake, just to see if it made a difference, and YES it is noticeably better.
(now wondering htf i know all this useless shite when i'm meant to be reading dr faustus & researching the seven deadly sins!)

Warning re the judges. IN MIL's village one judge of the children's jam tart competition wrote on the judging notes that the tarts were not of competition standard - for a plate of tarts made by an under-6! Another judge disqualified a jar of jam because it had a gingham cloth cover tied with twine (put on by ex-townie to look rustic) instead of clear cellophane. You are entering a minefield and only misery can result!

You realise of course that the wretched cake is not actually going to get eaten? Once the judges have had their tiny sliver , it will then sit in the hot humid tent for the entire day whilst the rest of the village gawps at it and surreptiously pokes it to see how spongey it really is. Then at 5pm you can collect it and decide you probably don't want to eat it either.
Make your cake and share it with the people who matter and don't worry about the glory!

and mix it in a pyrex bowl, not plastic or metal!
did you check about cake tin sizes? i think the standard is 7 in - 8 in is for cheesecakes

My word, this is just a hidden world of worm cans waiting to be opened.

I think def. salt free butter. They have the taste buds of a...what has a lot of taste buds? I was going to say basset hound but then dogs lick their own arses don't they, and eat cow pats given half a chance, so not dogs then.

Someone here will help me with me with what a Village show cake judges taste buds are like.

Kickassangel, your description has also been added to my word document. I am very dubious about the whole dropping of the cake pre oven insertion. If you've gone to the effort of double or even triple siftings, and then careful folding with metal spoons, why would you then want to drop it?? I will do a practice dropper as I still have a month before the show, but if I am perfectly honest I'm very about that suggestion!!

Well I have a dilemma here. The ladies from church have all been asked to make a cake for the Bishop's tea party tomorrow afternoon. (yes, I know, I do seem to be living in a Barbara Pym novel). So do I donate a practice VSC, or win approval from possibly the Bishop's wife (and who knows maybe the Great Almighty also) by making the MN LDC (always a winner).

practice practice practice slubber

Lemon Drizzle cake very suitable for the Bishop, chocolate cake less approved of in church circles (but LDC contains fruit so it must be good).

So the mark II VSC with McDougals supreme sponge flour (purchased this morning), siftings, metal spoons, teatowls on cooling rack, creaming with hand whisker etc etc to the Bishop then.

chocolate cake lilymaid??? Don't confuse and flusterate me with a third cake option please.

I've linked to an article further down where they are strongly into the dropping thing. It's almost enough to make me dust the mixer off so I can give it a go.

Yes I read you link Chocpot. Plenty of droppings there, but then it's an Aussie site and their sponge recipe was at the least rather unusual but I suspect to an English WI judge would frankly be alarming. Custard Powder...and baking soda I seem to recall. Not cricket really IMO.