The Love Witch: Victoria Sponge Cake
The Movie: The Love Witch
Category: Horror/Comedy
Running Time: 120 minutes
No Spoilers Blurb: “Elaine, a beautiful young witch, is determined to find a man to love her. In her gothic Victorian apartment she makes spells and potions, and then picks up men and seduces them. However her spells work too well, and she ends up with a string of hapless victims. When she finally meets the man of her dreams, her desperation to be loved will drive her to the brink of insanity and murder. With a visual style that pays tribute to Technicolor thrillers of the 1970s, THE LOVE WITCH explores female fantasy and the repercussions of pathological narcissism.”
Why I like it
This is a real “let count the ways,” when it comes to why I love this film. First, it was incredibly inspiring to me just on the basis that it was written, directed, designed, you name it, by an amazing woman named Anna Biller. In LA it’s really rare to see women get a chance to do so much in film and I find it important to support women who are authentic and amazing.
But why did I pick it for this week’s discussion? Well, in the past I discussed that one of my first career was as a makeup artist in LA. I have always been extraordinarily fascinated with beauty and how it connects into body standards which ultimately ties into the food we can eat and our health. Yeah I know, it’s quite a chain but it’s not a stretch, it’s the idea I want to push here. Everything is connected. We constantly view the world through a lens that allows one or two perspectives at most, and look, I get it. There is a lot of information out there and the ability to examine it through binary oppositions, meaning it’s good or bad, black or white, day or night, well that just makes it easier for our caveman brains to tell us how to feel in terms of safety.
So, why did I pick a film about witches and love? Because beauty without balance ends up being the consumption of emptiness and leads us to our demise. If you don’t believe me head on over to my Sunday Obits and Eats sections which is full of women who one could easily argue that their underlying cause of death was that they weren’t allowed to eat in order to stay thin and beautiful. And when society got tired of them we ate them.
I would highly recommend reading this great interview I stumbled upon, Anna Biller on The Love Witch and how she crafts spellbinding female fantasies. It dives deeper into why Anna chose to discuss beauty and she even hits on the idea that women are the ones who consume the images of other women and fed the idea that our only value is based on our looks and how that can lead to mental health issues.
Cakes on the set of The Love Witch
The Recipe: Victoria Sponge Cake
One of my favorite scenes in The Love Witch is when Elaine goes for high tea with Trish and begins to explain how utterly in love with love she is. The set design is stunning and the wardrobe is even better. Delicate tea cakes are on all the tables so I figured this was the perfect post to talk about the Victoria Sponge Cake, which legend says was a favorite of Queen Victoria and what she ate constantly to soothe her grief after the death of her husband.
Ingredients
Cake:
175 g (⅔ cup + 1 Tbsp) vegan block butter (NOT the spreadable kind. I use Earth Balance) softened
250 g (1 ¼ cups) caster (superfine) sugar
175 g (⅔ cup + 1 Tbsp) non-dairy yogurt (I used vanilla soy) (room temperature)
175 ml (⅔ cup + 1 Tbsp) unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use soy) (room temperature)
2 ½ tsp vanilla extract
350 g (3 cups minus 2 Tbsp) self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
Buttercream:
125 g (½ cup) vegan block butter (NOT the spreadable kind. I use Earth Balance) softened
220 g (2 cups) icing (powdered) sugar sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
strawberry or raspberry jam
caster sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/. Grease two 19-20cm/7.5-8inch round cake tins and line with baking parchment.
Cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for a good few minutes until very light and fluffy.
Add the yogurt, milk, vanilla, flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and gently mix everything together until it forms a smooth batter. Take care not to over-beat it as that can make the cake tough.
Divide the batter between the tins and bake for about 25-35 minutes until springy and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Leave the cakes to cool in the tins for 10 minutes then carefully turn them out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
Once the cakes have cooled, make the buttercream. Place the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl and whisk with an electric mixer for a couple of minutes until smooth and fluffy.
Place one of the cake layers on a serving plate and spread over a generous quantity of jam.
Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a large round nozzle and pipe blobs of the buttercream on top of the jam. (Alternatively, spread the buttercream over the bottom cake layer with a palette knife first, then spoon the jam on top).
Place the second cake layer on top. Sprinkle with a little caster sugar and serve. Store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to four days.