Merienda on the Estancia: Victoria Sponge

Merienda on the Estancia: Victoria Sponge with Fruit from the Loza Orchard

Afternoon tea first became popular in Argentina during the 19th century, brought over, it's thought, by British immigrants who settled in the country in search of new opportunities. Buenos Aires at the time was a melting pot of cultures, and as the British ritual of afternoon tea mixed with strong Italian and Spanish influences already shaping daily life, it slowly transformed into something distinctly Argentine: the ‘merienda.’

Today, merienda remains one of the most cherished rituals of Argentine life, and here on the estancia it's no different. Every afternoon, just before we saddle up for a ride through the Sierras Chicas, we gather for merienda together - a pause between the work of the day and the golden hours of riding still ahead. Our chefs take it in turns to spoil us with something sweet: warm biscuits fresh from the oven, delicate pastries, or, on the best afternoons, a cake still warm enough to melt the buttercream.

One of our favourite summer choices is a simple Victoria sponge, topped with whatever fruit is ripest that week in the orchard at Loza, plums in early summer, peaches as the season deepens, sometimes a handful of berries if the birds haven't beaten us to them. There's something wonderfully unfussy about a Victoria sponge: two soft layers of vanilla-scented cake, a good jam, and a cloud of buttercream in between. It travels well too, so if the ride runs long, there's usually a slice waiting when we get back.

If you'd like to bring a little estancia life to your own afternoon tea, here's how we make ours.

Ingredients

For the sponge

• 200g caster sugar

• 200g softened butter

• 4 eggs, beaten

• 200g self-raising flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 2 tbsp milk

For the filling

• 100g butter, softened

• 140g icing sugar, sifted

• Vanilla extract

• Strawberry jam

Method

Heat your oven to 190ºC/370ºF. Butter two 20cm sandwich tins and line the bases with non-stick baking paper, this makes turning the sponges out afterwards far less stressful than it sounds.

In a large bowl, beat the caster sugar, softened butter, beaten eggs, self-raising flour, baking powder and milk together until you have a smooth, soft batter with no lumps of butter left hiding at the bottom.

Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and smooth the surface with a spatula or the back of a spoon, so both sponges rise level.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden on top and the cake springs back gently when pressed in the centre. Every oven runs a little differently, so keep an eye on it during the last five minutes.

Turn the sponges out onto a wire rack and leave them to cool completely before filling, a warm sponge will melt your buttercream into a puddle, however tempting it is to rush.

While the sponges cool, make the filling: beat the softened butter until smooth and creamy, then gradually beat in the sifted icing sugar along with a drop of vanilla extract, until light and fluffy.

To assemble, spread the buttercream generously over the flat side of one sponge, then top it with strawberry jam or a thin layer of sliced fresh fruit from the orchard. Sandwich the second sponge on top, flat side down, and dust the whole cake lightly with icing sugar before serving.

The cake will keep in an airtight container for up to two days, though on the estancia it rarely lasts that long. Serve it in thick slices alongside a pot of tea or mate, and you'll have everything you need for a proper Argentine ‘merienda of your own.

Summer in the Los Pots Kitchen: Argentine Preserves

Winter leaves our fruit trees dormant, waiting quietly for spring and the first rains of the year. Then everything changes at once. By summer the estancia is bursting with produce, from wild asparagus sprouting across the hills to an orchard heavy with fruit. Our approach to all of it comes down to three words: pick, prepare, preserve. Our chefs spend the summer finding new ways to capture the harvest so it carries us through the winter ahead.

Building on What We've Learned in the Kitchen

We've written before about smoking our own meat, which has become a real success and one more step towards a more self-sufficient kitchen. Vegetables get the same treatment: we pick, preserve them in flavoured oils and turn the surplus into jams, jellies and chutneys. A bumper crop of aubergines becomes escabeche, a traditional pickled antipasto finished with chilli flakes, garlic and bay leaf.

From the Orchard at Loza to the Pantry Jar

The orchard at Loza gives us plums, peaches, apricots and wild cherries in abundance. We fill jars with wild cherries and sugar to start a batch of guindado, a cherry liqueur that's ready after three months. It's traditionally made with brandy, but our estancia recipe has always used locally made gin.

The soft fruit goes into jams, is poached in red wine and amaretto, or becomes compotes for topping fresh yoghurt. We forage mirabelles, a sweet yellow plum, from the trees near the waterfall, and the apples from Los Melados become jar after jar of jam.

As summer stretches on, the figs ripen everywhere from the cattle station to the garden at Potrero de Niz. Sweet on their own, they also pair beautifully with cheese and meat, so alongside fig jam and chutney we like to make honey-poached figs with orange and spices from the last of the harvest.

Quince: The Last Fruit of the Orchard to Ripen

Quince is always the last to ripen. You know it's ready when the fruit turns a deep golden yellow and gives off its floral scent. Taking a lead from the Mediterranean, we cook some of the quinces in a sweet syrup to serve over homemade yoghurt or fresh cheeses like labneh, something Kevin has been perfecting in the kitchen.

Nothing says Argentine tradition quite like quince jelly and membrillo, made together in one process. First the fruit is boiled with sugar until the colour deepens from pale yellow to a rich reddish pink. Then, following a method passed down from Louie Begg, we strain it through a sieve rigged from an upturned chair with a tea towel tied around its legs, separating the clear jelly from the thicker quince paste, the membrillo.

Walnuts, Topinambur and the Months Ahead

As autumn arrives, the walnuts start falling from the trees and the topinambur, or Jerusalem artichokes, are ready to dig up and store for winter. There's always something to harvest and a new way to preserve it, and we love finding ways to use what the land gives us and waste less, season after season.