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Victoria Sponge
Named for the Queen herself: two golden sponges, raspberry jam, softly whipped cream and a snowfall of caster sugar. The Women’s Institute standard against which all cakes are judged.
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 25 min
- Total
- 50 min
- Yield
- Serves 8–10
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Era
- Victorian
Ingredients
- 225g soft butter, plus extra for the tins
- 225g caster sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 225g self-raising flour, sifted
- 1 tsp baking powder; 2 tbsp milk
- Filling: 5 tbsp raspberry jam; 200ml double cream, softly whipped
- Caster or icing sugar, to dust
Method
Oven180°C350°FFan 160°CGas 4
- Heat the oven to 180°C / 350°F (fan 160°C, gas 4). Butter and line two 20cm sandwich tins.
- Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy — a full 5 minutes.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time with a spoon of flour to prevent curdling.
- Fold in the remaining flour and baking powder; loosen with the milk to a soft dropping consistency.
- Divide between the tins and bake 22–25 minutes until golden and springing back.
- Cool in the tins 5 minutes, then turn out and cool completely.
- Sandwich with jam and cream, dust with sugar, and eat the same day — royalty doesn’t do leftovers.
Oven temperatures are given in Celsius, Fahrenheit, fan and gas mark throughout. Quantities are metric, as cooked and written in the UK.