My corner of the Chicago area is small, but surprisingly international. So it was the other day that I found myself in a conversation with four other people at a cocktail party none of whom had been born in the United States. There were two Brits, a Canadian, a Swede and boring old me.

The conversation turned to food. Okay, I steered the conversation toward food by mentioning that I had bought gooseberries at the farmers market that morning. I knew that the Europeans in the group were more likely to be familiar with gooseberries than most Americans and might even appreciate my find.

Gooseberries

Both my friend Jo, one of the Brits, and the Swede immediately began discussing how the small, red gooseberries found at our farmers’ market were different from the large, green gooseberries of their childhoods. Who knew? I had started a gooseberry controversy.

Whatever kind of gooseberries you see at your farmers’ market, you should give this under-appreciated fruit a try. Odd-looking and tart, gooseberries turn palatable and beautifully pink when cooked with a generous application of sweetener.

Gooseberry compote has many uses.

If you are looking for gooseberry recipes, as I was, you will do well to look across the pond. The fruit had long been prized in the United Kingdom — where it is traditionally combined with elderflowers — because in the days before fruits were imported from elsewhere, gooseberries were one of the first fruits to ripen in spring. Nowadays, British chefs and home cooks just enjoy gooseberries for their complex, slightly mineral flavor and their nostalgia value.

My first step in taming my farmers market gooseberries’s pucker was to cook them down with some sugar and a splash of water into a compote. Gooseberry compote is a versatile ingredient that can be used in drinks, desserts and even sauces. This recipe will leave you with more compote than you need for the cake filling, so feel free to experiment with the remainder.

Sponge cakes ready to be filled.

Because they are not too sweet, gooseberries also work well in savory dishes and in Britain, gooseberry sauce is sometimes served with fatty meat or fish, like mackerel. But the most classic preparation is a Gooseberry Fool, a dessert of fruit puree, whipped cream and custard.

I wanted to make a classic British dessert with my gooseberry compote — how could I resist? But instead of a gooseberry fool, I decided to make the ultimate teatime cake, a Victoria sponge, and fill it with my gooseberry compote.

Top bottom layer with compote and whipped cream.

A Victoria sponge, so named because it was Queen Victoria’s favorite dessert, is a fairly recent invention…if you consider the 1840’s recent. It took the development of baking powder to allow home cooks to create such rich, buttery confections.

Baking powder is so critical to the texture of the sponge cake that many recipes call for self-rising flour, a flour, salt , baking powder mix. I think that few of us on this side of the Pond even have self-rising flour in their pantries these days. (I have all-purpose flour, cake flour, bread flour, whole wheat flour, Italian 00 flour, and semolina flour but not self-rising flour myself.) So I substituted a mix of cake flour, all-purpose flour and baking powder. So should you.

Decorate your Victoria sponge with powdered sugar and a stencil.

The end result was so gorgeous and tasty that I felt like Mrs. Patmore from “Downton Abbey.” Or at least Daisy. If only I had some lords and ladies to present with my Victoria sponge! Instead I served it at festive brunch for a group of friends.

Every adult and my friend’s adorable toddler polished off their slices with gusto. One of my children picked at her slice and the other took one look at the thing and walked away. Pearls before swine, I guess. But I am sure that your children will appreciate your efforts if you make them this fabulous cake, to say nothing of any British ex-pats in your life who may weep upon being presented with this nostalgic dessert from their childhood.