Classic Victoria Sponge Cake Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to the best Victoria Sponge? ›

Make sure your butter is extremely soft (but not melted). The butter will bond more easily with the sugar allowing for extra air bubbles when you beat it. Fresh, room temperature eggs hold more air than old or fridge cold ones, so this will give you a head start on creating a lighter sponge.

Victoria sponge

The version Queen Victoria ate would have been filled with jam alone, but modern versions often include cream. The top of the cake is not iced or decorated apart from a dusting of powdered sugar. The recipe evolved from the classic pound cake made with equal proportions of flour, fat, sugar and eggs.

The recipe relies on warming the whole eggs (the fresher the better) while they are being whipped, so they are fluffed up with as much air as possible. “The air you beat into the eggs is the raising agent,” Belinda says. “You rely on the air you beat into the egg and sugar mixture to give it the rise.”

Make sure that the baking powder is within its best before date and has been stored in a cool, dry place, as if it is stored somewhere humid it can expire more quickly. Make sure that all of the ingredients are at room temperature so that they combine easily. Cold ingredients can lead to a dense and heavy cake.

The way Queen Victoria would have enjoyed her cake was what we have come to recognise as the definitive Victoria sponge cake today. That is, two sponge cakes which are filled with cream and jam then dusted on top with sugar. This explains how the cake is also often referred to as a Victoria sandwich cake.

The high fat content of butter keeps the sponge moist and tender whilst also providing a delicious buttery flavour that you won't get with margarine or oils.

A: The main reason that may have caused your sponge to be heavy (and not fluffy and light) is that the batter could have been over mixed once the flour and cornflour was added.

If the butter or spread is too soft, it becomes oily and the resulting cake heavy and dense. If the butter is too cold, it takes too long to incorporate into the sugar and eggs and can cause over-mixing, which in turn means a heavy cake.

Don't overbake! This is probably the most important tip when it comes to keeping cakes nice and moist. If your batter is left in the oven too long the heat can cause the ingredients to become dry and crumbly. If you're a serial over-baker, investing in an oven thermometer can keep you on the straight and narrow.

Martina says, “Late in the mixing stage, eggs will incorporate better if you lightly beat them before adding to the batter.

Can you over mix Victoria sponge? ›

However, over-mixing will tend to knock out the air that has been beaten into the butter, sugar and eggs so over-mixing is more likely to lead to a cake which doesn't rise properly.

Over mixing cake batter can result in a heavy, closed rubbery texture. Over mixing acts on the gluten in flour and will make cakes hard instead of the lovely soft spongy texture we associate with a good cake.

- Lower the temperature and cook for longer: This is one of the easiest solutions. Lower the temperature by around 10-20°C and increase the baking time slightly. This will make sure the cake tin doesn't heat up too quickly.

You can also decrease the baking temperature by 10 or so degrees and increase the baking time. Just like when you bake a pumpkin pie and go low and slow for an uncracked surface, baking cakes at a lower temperature gives a more even rise.

The key to an airy sponge, is... well air! In each stage of the sponge making process you need to add as much airiness as you can. Once your flour is measured, hold the sieve a few inches above your mixing bowl, pour the flour into the sieve and gently sift away, this will ensure a light sponge once baked.

Most cakes will call for a leavening agent like baking powder or baking soda. These create the bubbles you need for the cake to rise. If the flour you use is self-raising, it already has a leavening agent in it. Make sure your butter is room temperature, and beat the butter and sugar together until properly creamed.