This week, I made a Victoria Sponge. Victoria sponge, for a very long time, was my favourite cake. But, despite being an avid baker, I have made Victoria Sponge only about 5 times in the last ten years or so, and every single one of them was for a birthday.
This year, I made it for my partner’s birthday. Before that, there was the carefully planned dairy-free version for my flatmate who was allergic to cow’s milk only. There was the nice if somewhat vertically challenged one made with about an hour’s warning before an impromptu birthday DND session. There were the mini ones I made for a birthday during my first year of university to win over my new uni friends and also his mum (It succeeded). And there was the one which the birthday boy almost took the entirety of away with him before anyone could share it until he realised several minutes later the error of his ways and returned to the spot where I was still stood in shock.
baker’s grief: that feeling when you cook something you don’t get to eat
Back in my fussier days, Victoria Sponge was my favourite cake because it was simple, contained no unknowns, but with just the right level of moisture and flavour and sweetness to satiate a young sweet tooth. I associate it still with quaint tearooms and afternoons with my dad, who has always been the first to suggest getting a cup of tea and cake somewhere on afternoons spent perusing the charity shops. (It’s hungry work). One of the few times I had to spend my birthday in school, Dad obtained special permission for me to spend my lunch break on the beach and have cake with my elderly neighbour Liz, who I was extremely fond of. It is perhaps one of my favourite birthday memories. But I have never once made it for myself.
I attended an event this week to celebrate the paperback launch of Rebecca May Johnson’s brilliant book Small Fires - both at the talk and in the book she discusses about how we have to be careful when describing cooking solely as an act of love, because despite cooking being a labour-intensive act which takes time and money to complete, if something is done out of ‘love’ then, when it cannot happen, it is assumed the converse. If you won’t take on all the ‘easy’ labour of cooking for your family and household for free, that means you don’t love them enough, or that you are seen as a bad parent or friend; especially if you are perceived as a woman and therefore failing maternal duties. This places an unfair expectation on someone to sustain this continuous unpaid caring role alongside everything else they are expected to do, and also it devalues those who do this work professionally like cafe workers and cleaners and nannies and perpetuates the idea that they don’t deserve to be fairly paid. It is love as an obligation.
When I make a birthday cake, it is partially to express my love and appreciation for someone. It comes at the expense of my time and my energy and my finances, but on these occasions it is a gift, in the same way you might make a card or a piece of art. I am not going to demand my friends pay me for something they did not ask me to do. I also cannot claim this cooking is an entirely selfless venture; in fact, becoming a better cook or baker is an expensive, time-consuming hobby which means it is difficult to convince myself to do it just for my own pleasure, especially when I am tired and busy. Sometimes you need parameters and a deadline in order to make something happen. Baking for someone else is so much easier, but I can do this because it is not someone’s birthday every week. If it is something to be done regularly, to be taken on as some form of work, then it becomes unsustainable to continue doing forever for free.
I say all of this, because I have been thinking about this newsletter a lot. I cannot claim that creating it was a purely selfless venture - I really loved writing it and connecting with you all and seeing you try things I recommended, but I have struggled time and time again to bring it back. It is not because I didn’t love writing or my followers enough, but I just didn’t have the time and energy and money to make it regular. But I have taken a step to evaluate what I really want, and I want my community back. I’ve eaten and cooked so many good things so the last year or so that I wanted to tell you all, and I had about 45 unfinished drafts in my substack that I never managed to send it off. I’m also a much better writer than I was before having written an entire book, and I want to use it not only to bring you the best recommendations, but to write all my weird and elaborate insights that don’t fit anywhere else. You guys gave me the freedom to be myself and experiment and I want to bring that back into something that is both sustainable and rewarding for everyone involved. I want to make the Victoria Sponge for myself.
There will always be a free element to Finally Some Good Food - it is important to me that the general reviews are accessible to everyone. However, my plan going forward: I want to write at least two newsletters a month; one will be the normal roundup which remain free, and there will a second paid one which will be a longer deep dive into something that interested me that month, whether a particular kind of food or recipe book or discourse, as well as the occasional travel journal. Depending on time, there may be bonus content throughout the month as well. These subscriptions will provide me with the requisite budget and motivation to keep reviewing the newest products, restaurants and recipes.
I’m learning to be better with my content planning as that was one of my main issues, so you’ll be glad to know that I’ve already almost finished my next post and also already working on my next few so you’ve got stuff to look forward to. All my posts for the next month will be free to give you a taster of what stuff I want to write,but you can subscribe at any time on the home page. Also an important part of the newsletter returning is that if you have any (veggie friendly) requests for products, food books, recipes or restaurants you want me to try, do get in touch and I will do my best.
Now that was quite a big chunk of text and info, so as a treat, here is what you’ve all been waiting for: this last month’s roundup.
BBC Good Food Victoria Sponge
I will advocate for BBC Good Food probably until the day I die. As Ed said to me, Victoria Sponge is difficult to do well because it is so simple; seeing as I was definitely feeling no pressure at all, I went for this five-star recipe.
This is the first time I have been able to bake in my new oven which actually has different temperatures and I don’t have to manually kneel and light with a firelighter at the back and oh my god you guys, it is perhaps the most depressing sort of gamechanger. The first sponge I baked came out so beautiful and perfectly even, I genuinely yelled alone in my own home at the cake - it looked so good! and consistent! The second sponge was the classic problem child, although entirely my fault after I forgot to set a timer and had to go on vibes alone. It rose a lot more but deflated where I pricked it, so I was very worried the centre would be underdone, so I baked it much longer until I was sure the centre was dry.
The buttercream was also annoying because my icing sugar seems to always be absolutely rock hard and it turns out in the move we also lost our one sieve.
the bermover triangle: all the things that magically disappear when you move house despite the fact you were sure you packed them
Thanks to our nearby angel Josh who brought one over quickly and also helped fix our vacuum in the midst of a cleaning crisis, we were back but it did mean I had to strain all the buttercream through the sieve and it reminded me of the last time I made mashed potatoes and it almost gave me RSI. ,
The one problem of making celebration cakes is that I never know when to bring it out at the party because it feels very much like a ‘look at me’ move when I just want to surreptitiously give people joy like Remy the Rat in Ratatouille. Eventually, we managed to slip it in just before drinking games began and even though the birthday boy immediately walked away after cutting it before serving it to anyone, I was pleasantly surprised to find out, that despite my anxiety it was, in fact, a good cake! Both sponges were perfectly cooked the whole way through (never judge a sponge by appearance?) and the ratio of cream and jam was just right. One person said it reminded them of having cake with your grandma, which I take as a high compliment for Victoria sponge (unless your grandma was not a nice person, then I can only apologise.)
Anyway, if you need to make a Victoria sponge, I recommend this one. And always, always have a sieve.
Gold billions bar
When I was a child, I pretty much had the same structure of packed lunch every day - sandwich, fruit, juice, crisps and a sweet treat, usually in the form of a chocolate bar. Now what kind of chocolate bar heavily depended what was on offer in the supermarket that week but there were certain bars that I was always a bit more excited for. Gold bars were one of them - it seems this year caramelised white chocolate is the ingredient du jour, like sea salt caramel, but Gold bars are simple in their brilliance. But I assumed they had fallen to be forgotten in the sweet treats aisle, until I spotted this new addition in one of my local Spars.
It is basically a kitkat chunky bar but with caramelised white chocolate and some non-descript vanilla cream atop some wafer? Either way, an unexpected but nice addition to the Gold family, ideal for any white choc lovers with a serious sweet tooth - I haven’t seen them anywhere else though so I imagine they will disappear into the either in the next month or so never to be seen again.
white chocolate digestives
Do you know that meme from Titanic, where the very old woman says she’s been waiting for 84 years? That’s how I feel about white chocolate digestives. I know it’s been almost 20 at least but I remember making homemade versions when I was in primary school. Anyway, they have finally gone and done it and to be honest, they don’t taste too dissimilar to milk chocolate, so if you’re a major milk nut, you won’t actually be put off. My boyfriend is disgusted at me for liking them but he is just a hater.
My one critique is that they don’t need to skimp on the chocolate - ideally, I would have a thicker layer, and ideally with sprinkles, but that’s only based off my own childhood experiments. However, when my period started this month, finding a half-eaten pack of these in the cupboard were a godsend.
cornflake crunch
In 2020, Ed got me the Milk bar cookbook after we watched the episode of Cehf’s Table with Cbristina Tosi and he saw how enamoured I was with her anti-elitist cooking. However, because it is an American cookbook from a dessert professional, it has a lot of ingredients and equipment I have been yet to source until now. Only a couple of weeks ago I managed to find some milk powder by accident which meant I could finally make some of her cornflake crunch. I made a large baking tray’s worth; originally it was for her cornflake marshmallow choc cookies but there was something wrong with the dough where no matter how long it was in the freezer or fridge, it would melt into goop in the oven. However, I did improvise and added them to this Nigella recipe for salted chocolate cookies which have never failed me, and added some marshmallows and sprinkles instead of choc chips. Needless to say, delicious and a nice contrast of crunchy cereal and gooey marshmallows.
burgerism, Salford
The rise of veggie burgers has been somewhat of a mixed bag. While it’s great you can now have a proper veggie burger that isn’t the loose ghost of a falafel burger that will crumble under the slightest pressure (girl same), a lot of restaurants will now only offer their one veggie option, which is also vegan, contains no real cheese and they all use the same Beyond Meat patty that is just a bit too dry. And we don’t even get any nice extra toppings. It’s like they don’t know that I can eat real cheese actually. Even the McPlant is a bit McMeh for me.
When I saw on the burgerism menu that there was just one veggie option I couldn’t say I was surprised. However, sometimes I learned you don’t need all the bells and whistles to make a good veggie burger. What I got was the perfectly juicy burger of my dreams, where it had just the right blend of tangy sauces, melty (real) cheese and big enough to be substantial while small enough to actually fit in my mouth with one bite. (get your head out of the gutter).
knoops, Manchester city centre
Call me basic, but I love knoops. As a non-coffee drinker, it was so nice to have an iced drink for the summer that was so delicious and wouldn’t make me feel like I would going to die through my bowels; the only downside is that it is so delicious that I can blow through it in about 5 to 10 minutes if I’m not careful. Perhaps after a year or so I’ll do a comprehensive ranking but some of the combos I’ve enjoyed so far, but here are a few:
iced white choc and cinnamon
iced white choc and nutmeg
iced white choc
iced 58% dark, sea salt and vanilla
All were delicious and I would have again. Now the weather is getting colder, I can’t wait to revisit to try their many hot chocolate flavours.
I hope you enjoyed this little reintroduction, and make sure to tune in very soon for a snack-based deep dive and some spooky recommendations in the very near future….Thank you all for reading, and I’m so glad to be back.
I'm so glad this is back! I love reading these and getting your insight, and love spotting references to food I've been there to share with you :) keep going!
Loved this! And will defo be trying knoops’ hot choc with salt and vanilla iced choc this week.