AOne day I'll learn to say no!!... I've somehow been given the job of making my best friends' other halfs' 50th birthday cake... I was asked a few months ago and it seemed a good idea at the time... Now the time is here I'm not so sure, lol!!

My problem is size... I'm more used to making cupcakes or at biggest a standard 7/8" Victoria sponge... However there are going to be quite a few people at his surprise party and a cake that size would look a bit skinny so I thought an 11" square cake would be better.

After a lot of umming and arring I have decided to make a Victoria sponge as opposed to a Madeira cake (taste preference) which I will cover with sugarpaste and decorate with various figures I have made.

Please can someone help me with a recipe.... I'm a typical be-ro baking book girl and have tried the following creamed recipe: 18oz butter/margarine 18oz caster sugar 18oz self raising flour 9 medium eggs

I have just taken it out of the oven (double lined tin, 1hr 30 mins @ 150C) and it's looks overdone at the edges and I would like it to be deeper (this one has come out at 2" high and with all those ingredients I was hoping it would be more like 3 - 4"!!!)

I'll look forward to hearing from you all... I do hope you can help/advise. Many thanks in advance. xx

AI'll jump in since no one else has. You don't say how many people are attending the party so it's hard to know the amount you are catering for but I would be tempted to bake another one, tort and fill them both and stack them. That gives you a big cake and you can trim the slightly browned edges. There are a few things you can do when baking larger cakes such as heating cores in the middle or wrapping a damp tea towel around the tin to prevent over browning. I

ATo be honest I wouldn't have baked all that in one go, I always half the mix and do it in two stages, for 45 mins each gas 3 and I never have a problem then. Hope that helps?

I can't answer why the cake didn't rise as much as you wanted other than to ask why you didn't use extra baking powder (although you use self-rising flour) or salt in the recipe?  I ask because this one of the basic recipes I looked at:  http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/may/16/how-bake-perfect-victoria-sponge-cake

I looked at the WI's basic recipe (http://www.thewi.org.uk/what-we-do/recipes/baking/victoria-sandwich) which suggests that you weigh your eggs FIRST then adjust the measure of flour/sugar/butter to match this.  So, I'm kinda guessing perhaps you had more (or less) egg than you needed without actually calculating this out with your numbers.

The other thing is, you might want to consider purchasing cake heating cores like this (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0061UGRIC/?tag=cakecentral-20) for use when baking cakes larger than 10 inches.  They help the cake bake evenly.

Hope that helps.