Pudsey in a Cake Tin - Whitbread

Children in Need again and this time Boy One decided he'd turn his culinary skills to charitable use this year.

Months ago he bought a Pudsey cake mold from Lakeland with this very moment in mind. 

"I'm too busy to help this week," I said, and I was. This week seems to have been more hectic than usual. 

"Don't worry, I'll do it myself," he said. And he did. 

Pudsey turned out beautifully. So perfect that I advised against icing it. 

"It's not yellow enough. But, don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

So I left him to it and went out on a date with the Panther of News. (Oh yes!)

When I came back, Pudsey was beautifully iced and covered in cling film. I didn't dare unwrap him, Boy One would have noticed. 

He - the cake not the son - was used as the prize in the school's Children in Need pupils v teachers quiz. Isn't that good?

The recipe he used was the one on the packaging, which has now vanished. However, I believe it's an 8 egg Victoria sponge. It was certainly fairly straightforward. 

Doubling the quantities of this recipe from the Whitworths Sugar site. I'll put Pudsey quantities in brackets. Also the cooking time for Pudsey was quite long - he needed about an hour at 160 in the end although our oven isn't very good. 

THE ULTIMATE VICTORIA SPONGE CAKE

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes
Difficulty: Moderate
Makes 1 cake, 10-12 slices
   
Ingredients 
200gWhitworths caster sugar (400g)
200gunsalted butter, softened (400g)
4medium eggs (8)
200gself-raising flour (400g)
1 tspbaking powder (2tsp)
1 tstvanilla extract (2tsp)
Whitworths Twist and Sprinkle icing sugar, for dusting

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C / Gas Mark 4. (160 degrees) Grease and line with baking paper 2 x 18cm round cake tins. (grease and sprinkle with flour)
Place butter, vanilla and caster sugar in a large mixing bowl, beat until pale and fluffy. Beat eggs into the creamed mixture. Sift flour and baking powder into the bowl and fold in. Divide between the tins. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden.(Pour into tin and bake for 1 hour)
Cool for 5 minutes, turn out onto a cooking rack.

I am paid to talk about Whitworths, and in this case it's all I'm doing as Boy One did the baking.