Baking
How to Make Scones That Rise Tall: Method and Ratios
To make scones, rub cold butter into self-raising flour at a ratio of about one part butter to four parts flour, stir in a little sugar, then add cold.
Baking
This collection covers the bakes that define the afternoon tea table: scones with a tall, even rise, sponge cakes with a tender crumb, and the small pastries and biscuits that fill the middle tier of the stand. Every method is written to be followed at the counter, with weights in grams, oven temperatures in both Celsius and Fahrenheit, and visual doneness cues alongside the clock. We care about why a bake works, not just the steps: what cold butter does in a scone, why overmixing toughens a sponge, and how ingredient ratios keep a recipe consistent when you scale it up or down. When a shortcut genuinely works we say so, and when a classic method earns its extra effort, we explain exactly what you get for it.
Baking
Victoria Sponge Cake: Classic Equal-Weights Recipe Method
A classic Victoria sponge uses equal weights of eggs, butter, caster sugar, and self-raising flour: weigh 4 eggs in their shells, then match that weight.