Let them eat cake

As befits a bit of an old-school leftie, I'm not a huge fan of the monarchy, apart from Harry, who I would make an exception for, if he ever found himself at a loose end in Peckham. And knowing he likes a smoke (or used to at least), that might well come to pass.

That said, what I do love is a bit of old-school Britishness, which for some reason, in the past, we have been a bit shy of doing, as if waving a flag and being a bit pleased with ourselves is something that funny old Johnny Foreigner would do but is a bit swank, and we don't do it. Now that is patently nonsense of course and the last few years has seen a bit of a resurgence in Brit-chic, albeit viewed through Cath Kidston-tinted spectacles. I bow to no-one in my love of a vision of Britain which includes the following: going to the seaside in the winter/rain, the National Trust, ice cream, bunting, Fortnum & Mason, egg and spoon races, afternoon tea, a curry, hot concrete around an inner-city lido.

The last day of work before the Jubilee weekend was obviously one of high spirits. We also had a birthday to celebrate, which happened to be the colleague who buys the cakes for everyone else and who is a sugarcraft whizz, so I volunteered to knock up a cake. Generally, for all that I love a fancy-schmancy choco-peanut-mallow confection that is simply diabtes waiting to happen, a sunny (ha!) bank holiday Jubilee weekend meant there really was only one option -a lovely Vicky Sponge, or as I shall refer to it from now on, a Lizzy Sponge. As it happens, I am a bit of a master of the Lizzy Sponge and fancied showing off a bit so that was a bit of luck.

I used the classic proportions - 4 eggs, 200g of everything else. My method was less classic - shove it all in the Kitchenaid before even taking coat off after work, beat like fury until it looks right, shove in oven. Done.

I did the assembling at work to avoid any slippage - strawberry jam and whipped cream in the middle, dusted with vanilla icing sugar and decorated with fresh strawberries and a little flag. My colleague Mazz made a white chocolate and macadamia cake, which was was light, creamy and a good partner to the Lizzy sponge. My husband is a bit annoyed that he didn't get to try it but I've made him an elderflower drizzle cake by way of compensation (more on that another time) and, anyway, he shouldnt be eating cake before his Norway bike ride, so I was actually doing him a favour.

So, in conclusion, any British celebration would be made better by a Lizzy sponge. And anyone who disagrees is just doolally.

In Britishness,

GG