A British bake with a slice of history
When it comes to baking, the Victoria sponge cake is one of the ultimate family favourites. The Victoria sponge was also a favourite sweet treat of Queen Victoria’s, who was known to have quite the sweet tooth! So partial was she to this particular sponge cake—with its light and fluffy sponge texture and delicious jam and cream filling—that it was actually named after her sometime circa 1860.
Follow this easy Victoria sponge recipe for the ultimate Victoria sponge cake!
- Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC (160 C fan). Grease and base line two 20cm sandwich tins. Beat the butter and Tate & Lyle Caster Sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Beat eggs together with vanilla bean paste. Gradually add the egg mixture, beating well each time. (Add a little flour to the mix if it looks as if it might curdle).
- Sift together the flour and baking powder over the mixture and fold in using a large metal spoon with enough milk to make a soft dropping consistency. Divide between the tins and level with a palette knife. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until well risen, firm to touch and shrinking away from the sides of the tin. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out and leave to cool on a wire rack (discard the lining paper).
- Place one cake on a plate and spread with whipped cream, then add raspberry jam on top and gently spread it around. Place the second cake on top. Dust liberally with Tate & Lyle Fairtrade Icing Cane Sugar and enjoy!
• To ensure you have 2 identical sponge cakes, use kitchen scales to weigh your cake batter. You should have about 450g of cake batter per sponge.
• If you prefer a chocolate sponge, use 225g Tate & Lyle Fairtrade Pure Cane Caster Sugar, 200g self-raising flour and 25g cocoa powder, sifted and then simply follow the method above. You may find you need to use slightly more milk. Don’t worry if a few cracks appear on the surface of the cake – this is normal for a chocolate cake.
• Want to get the kids involved? They will love spreading on the filling and arranging the raspberries as well as dusting the cake with Tate & Lyle Fairtrade Cane Icing Sugar.
• For an even creamier cake, why not add buttercream ?
• Be sure to share this easy Victoria sponge recipe with your friends and family!
