victoria sponge - only 1 round sponge tin!

cassElliot

I'm making a victoria sponge cake, problem is.. I only have one sponge tin.. what do I do with the remaining half of the batter while the other half is cooking?
leave it resting in the kitchen with a tea-towel over it or put it in the fridge?
will it turn out alright??

thanks!!

cassElliot

oh... i think i'm supposed to cut in the cake in half! i thought i'd bake the two parts separate?

Acoshla

What size is the mix? Either make it in one and cut it in half or split the mix if it has an even number of eggs, 4 egg recipe, do two 2 egg mixes. You can't leave one half sitting ready in the bowl while the other bakes, tea towel () or fridge won't help it or save it at all.

What does the recipe say to do??

cassElliot

sorry... i look totally dense now but it says bake all at once, then cut the cake in half when it cools.

i'm terrible at reading instructions.

annamcmahon

For future reference there is no problem leaving the mix sitting out for a while. I make loads of buns every week for a stall and frequently have to leave mix sitting for up to an hour and never have any problems with it. Sometimes I get ahead of myself and run out of oven space or trays. I wouldn't put it in the fridge.

Acoshla

annamcmahon wrote: »

For future reference there is no problem leaving the mix sitting out for a while. I make loads of buns every week for a stall and frequently have to leave mix sitting for up to an hour and never have any problems with it. Sometimes I get ahead of myself and run out of oven space or trays. I wouldn't put it in the fridge.

Do your raising agents not rise whilst out and then not rise properly when in oven?

phormium

Cake mix in general should be put into oven as soon as liquid is mixed with raising agent, it won't go off or anything if it is left out for a while, you will just lose volume in the baked cake as the baking powder/bread soda will have started to work when moistened, heat completes the process.

Faith

phormium wrote: »

Cake mix in general should be put into oven as soon as liquid is mixed with raising agent, it won't go off or anything if it is left out for a while, you will just lose volume in the baked cake as the baking powder/bread soda will have started to work when moistened, heat completes the process.

I believe that modern raising agents only really start to work when heat is applied, compared to older ones that started to work as soon as they met liquid. I wouldn't advise leaving batter sitting around for a long time, but afaik it's perfectly fine to leave it while one batch cooks, if you don't have enough oven space/equipment.

Acoshla

The cupcake recipe I use has just self raising flour in it, it starts to rise almost immediately once the liquid ingredients are added, when busy I've left it for maybe a minute before going into the oven and it will already have become very aerated and nearly doubled in size to it's finished height, scooping it into the cases knocks some of that out and it won't rise more in the oven so maybe recipes, methods and raising agents just differ a lot.

annamcmahon

I find it rises fine. Saying that I do fill the cases quite high anyway and I'm also topping with glace icing so doesn't matter if they aren't full to the top. It's not ideal but not a disaster either. The raising agent must start to work while the mix is sitting because it is sort of bubbly.

Faith

Acoshla wrote: »

The cupcake recipe I use has just self raising flour in it, it starts to rise almost immediately once the liquid ingredients are added, when busy I've left it for maybe a minute before going into the oven and it will already have become very aerated and nearly doubled in size to it's finished height, scooping it into the cases knocks some of that out and it won't rise more in the oven so maybe recipes, methods and raising agents just differ a lot.

Quite probably! I definitely read it on the Hummingbird Bakery blog that they often leave batter around while their ovens are full or they're busy, but I can't find it now.

Acoshla

Faith wrote: »

Quite probably! I definitely read it on the Hummingbird Bakery blog that they often leave batter around while their ovens are full or they're busy, but I can't find it now.

That's American isn't it? American raising agents differ greatly to ours.

Faith

I think it's just American-style. They only have branches in the UK, and their cookbooks use European measurements and ingredients.

It probably depends hugely on the recipe itself, anyway. I might leave a cupcake batter sitting around for a while, but I actually wouldn't leave a Victoria sponge batter sitting around. Regardless of raising agents, Vic sponges should have lots of air in them, and I doubt sitting around would do it any favours .

Sigma Force

I have the same problem with 8 inch tins I have two 8 inch tins but they are slightly different in size..eventhough they are supposed to be 8 inches. So had the same problem I didn't want one larger than the other. I made the Malteser cake and the batter is actually warm and was worried that it would cause a problem while waiting for one half of the cake to cook but the second one came out better than the first.

I left it at room temp. although thinking on it now and reading the posts I could of baked it all the one go and cut it afterwards with my trusty cake cutting saw thing that I've yet to use (although a good knife and a steady hand can work).