How To Make A Classic Victoria Sponge Cake

What is your favourite cake?

Without a doubt a classic Victoria sponge cake is my favourite cake and especially my favourite cake to make at home.

How do you assemble the sponge layers?

Originally you would sandwich the two cake layers together with a layer of butter and homemade raspberry jam but as time progressed and icing sugar became more popular the buttercream was born.  Today you will typically find a Victoria sponge cake sandwiched together with buttercream and raspberry jam.

How to tweak the filling?

If you  want to change things up a bit you can to make a cream cheese filling.  I sometimes make the cream cheese from full-fat Greek Yogurt (This will be a further post coming up soon). I cream together some of the homemade cream cheese (also called Labne or Quark) with icing sugar until creamy.  The cream cheese gives a slight tang to the icing.

A layer of raspberry jam then put the top layer on. Sift icing sugar over the top and you have a Classic Victoria Sponge cake!

Can you make this cake larger or smaller?

It is really easy to scale up or down the ingredients to make a large, medium or small sponge cake.  Basically the sugar, butter and Self Raising flour are all the same weights and the eggs are in proportion for example 225g castor sugar, 225g unsalted butter and 225g SR flour and 4 eggs/175g castor sugar, 175g unsalted butter and 175g SR flour and three eggs/115g castor sugar, 115g unsalted butter and 115g SR flour and 2 eggs.

Recipe:

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Author: Heidi Roberts

Ingredients

• 175 Grams unsalted butter
• 175 grams castor sugar
• 175 grams Self Raising flour
• 3 large eggs
• tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 2-3 Tbsp milk
• 175 grams icing sugar
• 90 grams unsalted butter
• icing sugar to decorate

Instructions

1. preheat your oven to 160°C fan/170°C

2. butter and flour two 20cm round baking tins

3. in a large bowl beat the castor sugar and the butter until light and fluffy

   The longer you can beat these ingredients together the lighter your final cake will be

4. Add the eggs one at a time and beat after each one

5. Add the vanilla essence or vanilla bean paste

6. In another bowl sift the SR Flour, baking powder and pinch of salt

7. Gradually fold in the dry ingredients into there wet mixture, make sure you get all of the flour mixed in well.

   If the mixture is a bit thick add approx 3 Tbs of milk and mix until you have a slightly looser consistency

8. Pour into the two prepared tins and bake in a preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the middle does out clean

9. Remove the pans from the oven and cool on a rack for 10 minutes

10. After 10 minutes remove the cakes from the baking tins and cool on the rack until completely cool

11. Meanwhile mix some sifted icing sugar with the homemade cream cheese or lane. You can of course use unsalted butter instead.

12. When the cakes have completely cooled spread a layer of the cream cheese then top with a layer of raspberry jam

13. Top with the remaining cake layer

14. Sift icing sugar over the top of the assembled cake

15. Serve a slice of cake with a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy!

There is nothing more lovely than a homemade Victoria Sponge Cake.  It is without a doubt my favourite cake to bake and to share with friends.

Can you make this a chocolate sponge cake?

If you want to make a change substitute 50 grams of the SR Flour for 50 grams of cocoa powder for a chocolate sponge.

Further reading:

If you would like to read some more of my baking posts click the link below:-

Low Fat Victorian Fruit Cake

Semolina Sponge Cake – Nuts, Honey & Greek Yogurt

Autumn Spiced Apple Cake 

Easy Chocolate Brownies

Peanut Butter Brownies

Peanut Butter Blondies

Fluffernutter Brownies

Easy Flapjacks

Disclaimer:

All opinions and photographs are my own. No photographs may be reproduced in any manner without my written permission.