Very Berry Summer Cake

I rarely venture out from my boxed cake mixes when baking and instead prefer to focus on decorating rather than baking a cake from scratch. This time I decided to switch things up. For the first time, I decided to bake a cake from scratch.

My next decision was of course, what type of cake to make? A few weeks ago, a cake appeared on my Instagram feed. It looked amazing and nothing like anything I had ever done before. It was a Victoria Sponge Cake that featured a buttercream frosting topped with strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries. I had found my next project.

When searching for a recipe, I discovered that they mostly come from England and are measured in grams rather than cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons. I eventually found one I liked that had both measurements. I found it from http://www.errenskitchen.com/victoria-sponge/2/ . I adapted this recipe a bit to make it my own and that can be found below.

Cake

Ingredients:

1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Cup Softened Butter
4 Eggs
1 Cup Flour
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
3 Tablespoons Milk

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350℉
Place all of the ingredients in a mixer or food processor and blend until everything is mixed and smooth.
Split the batter between 2 well greased 9 inch round tins. Place them in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Tops should be golden brown.
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then flip the pans upside down over a cooling rack or plate, removing the cakes from the pans to finish cooling completely.

I also made my own buttercream frosting. This frosting is very easy to make and my recipe can be found down below.

Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

3 ½ Cups Powdered Sugar
½ Cup Butter, Softened
2 Teaspoons Vanilla
2 ½ Tablespoons Milk

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, mix powdered sugar and butter with an electric mixer on low speed.
Mix in vanilla and 1 tablespoon of the milk.
Gradually beat in just enough remaining milk to make the frosting smooth and spreadable. If the frosting is too thick, beat in more milk.

After baking my two 9” rounds, I found them very difficult to get out of the pans. One cake completely broke coming out and the other came out of the pan but not as cleanly as I would have liked. I placed the decent cake on a plate and put it in the freezer. I then decided to make more batter for two more cakes. After baking these two 9” rounds, I let them cool for 10 minutes after taking them out of the oven and then immediately used a knife to loosen the sides and flipped the cakes over on top of two plates. This worked soooo much better and the cakes came out a bit cleaner.

Because I now had three decent cake rounds, I decided to make a three layer cake instead of the classic two layer. I had the chance to get a bit more creative with my layers since I had an extra one than what I was originally planning on.

For my first layer, I decided to spread a layer of strawberry jam to add more flavor to the cake. I then topped the jam with some of my buttercream frosting. I then added the next cake on top.

The next layer I decided to switch things up. I first put a layer of strawberry jam and then buttercream but then added some sliced strawberries. The next 9” round went on top.