I might as well face it, I'm addicted to...

...Magazines.
The worst kind of magazines to be addicted to: Food magazines.

Other kinds of magazines come into my house and quickly leave. I'll flip through them, maybe ripping out a page or two as I go to file away for later reference if there's something I really want to remember (ahem, like a recipe, perhaps), and then off they go into the recycling bin.

But looking through a food magazine is an entirely different story. There are recipes!! Loads and loads of recipes!! Yummy sounding recipes. And neat gadgets! Must have gadgets! And beautiful kitchen things I most certainly cannot afford right now, but perhaps could afford... someday! And books...cookbooks and books about food! There is a veritable plethora of food information and food stuff! It's a big weakness for me.

Sure, I will only get around to cooking a few recipes. If it's a good month, I'll get around to cooking a few recipes from each one. I usually read them the day they come in the mail from cover to cover, picking out a few I absolutely have to make right away, storing the rest in the recesses of my brain for "later." Only sometimes, "later" doesn't come for a long time. Or, ever. But still! I have to keep them. Just in case.

Most of the recipes in Saveur seem beyond my capabilities as a cook, whether it's the ingredients, the special equipment needed, the health issues I would have if I did make it, or just the time and effort it would take to cook one of them. However, this does not stop me from trying a few of them out almost every month anyway (they always sound so good!)...nor continuing to subscribe to the magazine. This recipe for Victoria Sponge Cake was featured in the magazine last year sometime, and I wasn't able to find it on the website, so I had to dig through my boxes of "old magazines" to find the one I wanted.

LB hates these boxes - he knows of my magazine addiction (I've recently acquired two new ones, and yes, all but one of them are food-related) and he just does not understand why I have to have 200+ magazines around the house since I rarely pick them up after looking through them once, unless it's for that one recipe that is impossible to find because I cannot remember just WHICH magazine it's in... This occurred recently with a rose buttercream cupcake recipe - I was just waiting for the rosebushes to bloom and now for the life of me, I cannot remember where in the heck I saw it!

Furthermore, LB has officially banned me from bringing any magazines along with us to Hawaii unless they are the one or two that will fit into my carry-on luggage when we actually make the move. I'm desparately trying to figure out how to weasle my way around this new "rule." Any ideas from you readers would be helpful...

I've tried cutting and pasting out a few...but then I end up cutting and pasting the entire magazine into some other form, say white paper...this cuts down on a few pages, but not many. I've tried limiting myself to a single dessert, appetizer, main dish, etc...but more than one recipe for each one makes it out...and eventually most of the magazine ends up saved anyhow. Some of the recipes are available online, but then there's that one that isn't... or it doesn't have a picture and I'm not nearly as inspired...or I can't find a seasonal recipe... (and if I had the magazine, I could just pick up that month!)

Basically, I have a problem. I know. But once you taste this cake, you may be wishing you could have found it online too :) So my addiction and I are here to help you out. No need to go searching online or through old magazines, we're going to provide it for you right here. It's fabulous, and perfect right now because the strawberries are amazing this time of year. Once you dig your fork into the double Devonshire cream and layers of homemade strawberry jam sandwiched between two caramelized-edged sponge cakes, at least you, dear reader, will be happy I gave LB a loving "hmmph" and kept this particular magazine despite his disgruntled murmurings.

So without further adieu: Victoria Sponge Cake, from Saveur


3/4 lb. salted European-style high-fat butter, softened (plus extra for pan)
3 cups self-rising cake flour (plus extra for pan)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups double Devonshire cream (I get mine from Cost Plus World Market)
3/4 cup strawberry jam (preferably homemade)
confectioner's sugar

Preheat oven to 360F. Grease two 2" deep 8" round cake pans with butter and dust with flour; set aside.

Beat remaining butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high for 5 minutes. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Combine eggs with 6 tbsp. water in another bowl and whisk together. Add half the egg misture and half the flour to the butter-sugar mixture. Beat well for 1-2 minutes, then add remaining flour and egg mixture. Beat for an additional 5 minutes.

Divide the batter between prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 35-40 minutes. Invert cakes onto a rack, remove pans and let cool completely.

Beat cream in a medium bowl until stiff. Put 1 cake layer on a cake plate, spread the top with jam, then cover the jam with the cream. Spread top of remaining cake layer with remaining jam and place it, jam side down, on top of cream. Dust cake with confectioner's sugar.

Notes: Don't make this in a single 4" (or about that?) high pan - I did this time (I've made this once before) so that I could just cut it in half with a cake leveler, and I had to bake it so long to get the middle cooked through that the edges got overly browned. This wasn't a total loss, because it gave the cake a yummy caramelized flavor, but it's much more attractive with golden, not brown, edges. I served it with strawberries marinated in marsala and mint, and it was a delicious accompaniment. It's not healthy, but it's a great cake for entertaining. I can also post the homemade jam recipe if anyone wants it...let me know!