Victoria Sponge Cake

Do you remember the first time you earned money? I do I was in grade five( age 10) and I made cupcakes which I called scones for my mother’s cousin who was a cross border trader. She went to South Africa and on returning from her trip she paid me with some second-hand clothes. It was not money but I earned those clothes, like many other people used to and probably still do. Most would make crochet doilies in exchange for clothes (new and second-hand clothes) for themselves, their families or even to resell.  So yes I was pretty proud of myself for having earned something myself. Chisharu chemumwe chitsva kune mumwe(what is old to one will be new to another person)!

My mom taught me to cook I think when I was seven. I was also in Brownies and Girl Guides and we were taught a few recipes. I think that is where I learnt to make pancakes and how to read and follow a recipe. My cousins on my mom’s side also taught me a few things about baking. My late uncle had a farm in Gutu and I spent so many holidays there. My mom is the youngest so most of my cousins are older than me. Most of them went to boarding school, most of them at Zimuto High School in Masvingo. I wanted to be like them in every way and still do. They used to bake cakes for christmas and for taking to school in a clay oven. They made cupcakes once for school and I when I got home I asked begged my mom to buy us baking tins. I made my first cupcakes using the recipe my cousins had used and I used that recipe for years.

The “recipe” was never written down and I used eyeball everything so it was a hit and miss. Without anyone actually telling me how to set the temperature of the oven it was whatever worked that day. Yet I somehow became the resident baker!

Years later I realise that the recipe I was using was for a sponge cake without icing. When I made this recently, it was like meeting a long-lost friend who became better with age. And you talk about the time you spent Christmas kwaGutu and had tea with lots of milk and bread with sun jam that came in a winnowing basket. Or the time you went herding cattle and lost them all in the paddocks because you had no idea what you were doing. Or that once the bark of a maize stalk cut into your finger and you screamed in pain but everyone else thought you were happy about something so they did not come to your aid until you started weeping uncontrollably and you still have that scar. Most importantly how much simpler life was back then because your mother worried about money made all the important decisions!Ha ha!

This cake is a creamed cake and is easy to assemble. Great for those of us who are cake decorating challenged! Here is the recipe.