Welcome to the first post in my Baking Basics series! In this series I will be sharing recipes for basic baked goods, think perfect scones for afternoon tea, a brilliant white bread loaf, and ultimate gooey chocolate brownies! So basic in name, but definitely not basic in taste and enjoyment. This series is mainly for beginner bakers who want to learn the secrets behind baking, because getting the basics right is the best place to start. More experienced bakers will really enjoy it too, as there are so many delicious recipes to try out! And what better recipe to start this series with than a Victoria Sponge Cake. It’s beautifully simple, enjoyed by everyone, and is a British classic that’s known around the world.
Why is a Victoria Sponge Cake called a Victoria Sponge Cake?
It was named after Queen Victoria as she used to enjoy a slice with her afternoon tea. It is also known as a Victoria Sandwich Cake, and it is famous for being the cake to test your oven with. In the Great British Bake Off, a Victoria Sponge Cake is made in all of the ovens before the contestants start baking. This type of cake became popular when baking powder was invented, giving it a lovely rise and soft sponge like texture.
The creaming method or the all in one method?
If you’re not familiar with these terms, the creaming method refers to adding ingredients one at a time and mixing between additions. For example, making a sponge cake by first mixing the butter and sugar together, then adding eggs and mixing them in, then adding flour and mixing that in. The all in one method is adding all of the ingredients in the bowl together and only mixing them together once. I personally recommend the creaming method as it gives you a chance at each stage to ensure everything is well mixed together, which in turn adds air and lightness to the batter. You can also be more vigorous with your mixing when adding the eggs to ensure they are well incorporated, but then more gentle when adding the flour so as not to knock any air out of the batter. This results in a beautifully well risen sponge.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 235 g Butter or baking spread unsalted
- 235 g Caster sugar
- 4 Eggs large
- 235 g Self raising flour see note
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
For the filling
- 170 g Jam strawberry or raspberry
- 300 ml Double cream
- 1 tbsp Icing sugar optional
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract optional
For decoration
- 1 tbsp Icing sugar
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4, and grease and line two 8″ cake tins (that are at least 2″ deep). I line the base with greaseproof paper and lightly grease the sides with butter
- Make the sponge by mixing the butter/baking spread and caster sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer, or in a stand mixer, for 3-4 minutes until fluffy. You can also mix by hand, but an electric mixer will give the best results
- Add the eggs and vanilla extract, and whisk until fully incorporated, again using an electric mixer
- Gently whisk in the self raising flour using a hand whisk, or fold in with a silicone spatula, and mix in until you can’t see any flour anymore
- Divide the mixture between the tins, use scales for accuracy if you like
- Bake them for 20-25 minutes or until they are golden and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Leave them to fully cool either in the tins or remove from the tin and place on cooling racks
- If the cakes have domed on top, you can level them off with a cake leveller or a knife, you will definitely need to do this for the bottom cake layer so that the top layer stacks on top of it nicely
- To decorate the cake, prepare the double cream by whipping it along with the icing sugar and vanilla extract, with an electric whisk until soft peaks form. You can do this by hand but it will take much longer and require some muscles!
- Put one of the sponges on your plate or cake stand and spread the jam onto it
- Pipe or spread the whipped cream over the jam (or you can pipe or spread the cream on first and put the jam on top of it)
- Add the other sponge on top and dust with icing sugar, or decorate how you like
- Serve immediately, if using whipped cream store any leftovers in the fridge, if using jam only or jam and buttercream store in an airtight container in a cool place and eat within 2-3 days
