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This classic Easy Victoria Sponge Cake Recipe is the perfect dessert or tea-time snack! It is so easy to make and can be prepared in just 15 minutes. Top this delicious cake with fresh berries, buttercream and enjoy!
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About this Recipe
This is the best Victoria sponge cake recipe ever! It is perfectly moist, light, fluffy and delicious. Victoria Sponge Cake originates from the United Kingdom. It uses an equal amount of four ingredients: self-raising flour, butter, eggs and sugar. With these four ingredients, you are on your way to the perfect Victoria sponge cake.
Victoria sponge is normally baked in two tins and sandwiched with jam and a simple buttercream. It can be topped with fresh berries such as strawberries, blueberries and blackberries or served plain. Depending on personal preference, you can fill this Victoria sponge with cream or buttercream. On this occasion, I filled this Victoria sponge with buttercream.
Serve this classic sponge as a dessert or with tea/coffee during tea time.You can also make a Victoria sponge birthday cake and serve it during other special occasions. This recipe serves 12-18 people depending on the size of the slices.
Ingredients
Victoria sponge cake recipe includes the most simple and common ingredients. Most of the ingredients can be bought at local supermarkets and grocery stores.
Self-raising flour: You will need self-raising flour to make this sponge. Self-raising flour already contains raising agents and some salt so there is no need to use salt or baking powder again.
Caster sugar: Caster sugar dissolves quicker during the creaming process as opposed to granulated sugar so it is a better option.
Eggs: Use fresh, free-range, organic(if possible) for best results and for a delicious tasting cake.
Unsalted butter: Quality unsalted butter at room temperature is the best type of butter for this recipe.
Milk: A small amount of milk is added to the batter to loosen it and achieve a smooth silky consistency.
Double cream: You can choose to add double cream when making the frosting. Double cream gives a thick, fluffy consistency to the buttercream.
Icing Sugar: Sift the icing sugar to remove the lumps before mixing.
Jam: Any type of berry jam would work as a filling for this recipe. My go-to choice is raspberry jam.
Fresh Berries: Use a mixture of fresh berries or a single type of berry as a decoration for the Victoria sponge cake.
How to Make a Victoria Sponge Cake
1.Preheat your oven and line two 7 inch cake pans with parchment/baking paper.
2. Add unsalted butter to a bowl and beat for a couple of minutes.
Tip: Make sure the unsalted butter is at room temperature.
3. Cream butter and caster sugar together. This step is really important as it allows air to be incorporated into the batter which helps the cake rise properly. The creamed butter and caster sugar mix should be almost white once the process is completed.
4. Next, crack the eggs into a separate bowl and whisk gently. Add ¼ of the egg mixture and whisk until the eggs are fully incorporated. It would be a good idea to use a good balloon whisk for this or use a mixer on low speed to avoid overmixing. Continue adding the eggs until all the eggs have been added in.
5. Add half of the self-raising flour and half of the milk into the egg mixture and use a spatula to mix until fully combined. Use a spatula for this process to avoid overmixing. Add the remaining flour and milk and mix again.
6. The final batter should have a silky consistency with no evidence of curdling. Pour equal amounts of the batter into the two pans and bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes.
7. The cake is ready once it springs back up once pressed down. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing and finally cool down completely on a cooling rack.
Tip: It normally takes at least 2 hours for cakes to cool. Make sure the cake is completely cool before decorating. If the cakes are still warm then it may cause the buttercream to melt.
Victoria Sandwich Filling
8. While the cakes are cooling, make the buttercream. In a clean bowl, beat the butter and icing sugar together until fully smooth and combined. Use some milk or double cream to loosen the buttercream until it reaches the desired consistency.
9. Heat the jam for some minutes to loosen the consistency. Allow to cool completely.
Assemble Victora Sandwich
10. To assemble the cake, spread some buttercream on one cake and top with jam.
11. Place the second cake on the buttercream side with the bottom facing up and dust icing sugar on top of the sandwich.
11. Add more buttercream on top of the cake and top with fresh berries.
12. Serve Victoria sponge cake as desired!
Tips and Tricks
- Creaming: A major step in the making of Victoria sponge is the creaming of the butter and the sugar. Do not rush this process. Use medium speed on a mixer and cream the butter and sugar for at least 5 minutes. The final mixture should be almost white in colour.Creaming butter and sugar allows air to be incorporated into the batter. The air helps the cake rise and makes it light and fluffy.
- Room temperature ingredients: Use room temperature ingredients to prepare the cake batter. Using cold milk, eggs or butter can impact the rise of the cake negatively.
- Flour: Use self raising flour and do not attempt to substitute with plain flour and baking powder. The ratios will be different in both scenarios so the results will be different.
- Weighing scale: Use a kitchen scale to weigh the ingredients as this is much more accurate than using cup measurements.
- Baking tin: You can make a victoria sponge recipe in one tin depending on the depth of the tin. If the tin is deep then bake all of the batter in one tin and slice it in the middle to create a victoria sandwich.
FAQs
What is the difference between a sponge cake and a Victoria sponge?
The Victoria Sponge cake is lighter in texture than other sponge cakes such as Madeira because it uses the same measurements of eggs, butter and sugar. Other sponge cake recipes like the Madeira sponge cake call for more flour which results in a dense texture, almost similar to a pound cake.
Other than this major difference Victoria sponge cake is not too far off from other sponge cake recipes.
Why is Victoria sponge cake called Victoria?
According to historical sources, this cake recipe was named after Queen Victoria, one of Britain’s longest-reigning monarchs. She was reportedly a huge fan of this cake recipe, enjoying a slice during afternoon tea.
What makes a sponge cake light and fluffy?
Sponge cake is light and fluffy mainly due to the creaming of the butter and sugar. Creaming the butter and sugar allows air to be incorporated which helps the cake rise properly. Also, sponge cakes use almost the same amount of flour, butter, eggs and sugar which helps in creating a lighter sponge as opposed to a dense sponge.
Why is my Victoria Sponge not fluffy?
This could be because the ingredients were cold or not at room temperature. It could also be because the butter and sugar were not creamed together properly.
Ensure the butter, eggs and milk are at room temperature and when the butter and sugar are being creamed together, the mixer is on medium speed and the butter and sugar are creamed for at least 5 minutes. The mixture should be almost white once done.
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Easy Victoria Sponge Cake Recipe
Jen Sim
This classic Easy Victoria Sponge Cake Recipe is the perfect dessert or tea-time snack! It is so easy to make and can be prepared in just 15 minutes. Top this delicious cake with fresh berries, buttercream and enjoy!
Print Pin Rate
Course: cake, Dessert
Cuisine: British
Keyword: homemade victoria sponge, How to make Victoria sponge cake, Victoria Sponge
Prep Time: 7 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes
Servings: 12 people
Author: Jen Sim
Equipment
Hand or stand mixer
Spatula
Large Bowl
two 7" cake tins
Ingredients
- 400 g of caster sugar
- 400 g of unsalted butter
- 6 eggs
- 400 g of self-raising flour
- 3-4 tablespoon milk
- 125 g Unsalted butter
- 200 g of icing sugar
- Milk or double cream
- 100-120 g Raspberry Jam
- Strawberries
- Blueberries
- Raspberries
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 160C/320F/Gas mark 3. Lightly grease two, 7” non-stick cake tins and set aside for later.
Add unsalted butter to a medium-sized bowl and whisk for 2 minutes.
Then, add caster sugar to the bowl and whisk for 3-5 minutes. The mixture should be pale yellow or almost white.
Crack eggs open into a separate bowl and mix gently using a fork. Add ¼ of the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture. Whisk until the eggs disappear. Repeat this step for the remaining eggs in the bowl.
Next, add half of the self-raising flour to the mixture and ½ of the milk. Then, use a spatual or whisk to stir the mixture for a minute. Add the remaining flour, more milk if necessary and mix until the batter has a silky consistency. Do not overmix the batter as this will result in a tough sponge.
Pour equal amounts of batter into the greased cake tins then, place them in the oven on the middle shelf and bake for 25-30 minutes or until done. To check if the cake is ready stick a skewer into the cake and if the skewer comes out clean then it is done.
Once the sponges are ready tip them upside down on to a rack and leave them to cool for 1 hour or until cool.
Filling
To make buttercream filling add unsalted butter to a medium-sized bowl. Whisk for a few minutes.
Add sifted icing sugar and whisk for 3-6 minutes. Gradually add 1 tablespoon of milk or double cream while whisking.
Add jam to a small saucepan and simmer for 3-5 minutes or until the consistency thins.
Assembling Cake
Use a palette knife or piping bag to add the buttercream filling to the top of one sponge. Then, pour the jam ontop of the buttercream and spread it evenly.
Place the other sponge on top of the filling and dust icing sugar on top.
To decorate spread a small circle of buttercream in the center of the sponge then top buttercream with berries.
Notes
- Creaming: A major step in the making of Victoria sponge is the creaming of the butter and the sugar. Do not rush this process. Use medium speed on a mixer and cream the butter and sugar for at least 5 minutes. The final mixture should be almost white in colour.Creaming butter and sugar allows air to be incorporated into the batter. The air helps the cake rise and makes it light and fluffy.
- Room temperature ingredients: Use room temperature ingredients to prepare the cake batter. Using cold milk, eggs or butter can impact the rise of the cake negatively.
- Flour: Use self raising flour and do not attempt to substitute with plain flour and baking powder. The ratios will be different in both scenarios so the results will be different.
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