Sponge tins

A Victoria sponge is normally considered the domain of the WI, and in recent years, the Great British Bake Off. Baked in two shallow tins and sandwiched together with raspberry jam and whipped cream, it was a favourite of Queen Victoria for whom it was named after,

These days, sponge tins are usually employed in much more lavish affairs where cakes are built from tiers of sponge sandwiched with fruit or other exotic fillings and covered in ganache.

Whether you prefer a genoise or fatless recipe, sandwich tins are a kitchen staple immediately on hand should you want whisk up a teatime treat: All you need is a spoonful of jam or lemon curd and a dusting of icing sugar.

But everyone's nightmare was getting the delicate sponges out of the tin, until the ingenious invention of the lever tin which allowed a thin sliver of metal to pass cleanly under the sponge and release it from the tin in one piece. It's not clear whose brainwave this was, but it was quite likely to have been Ovenex or Handiware.

Producers of sponge mix also produced their own tins as a means of promoting their products. The most popular was Greens, who also produced a two-way tin that could be used for sponges and flans.

Item :