I have an English classic for you today…Victoria sponge cake 
Along with vanilla fairy cakes, this is one of the first recipes I ever made. I have my Granny, Mum and Mary Berry to thank for teaching me! This recipe is quite straightforward, however they are many ‘discussions’ as to the best way of making it! Today, I’m going to give you the recipe that I use, but also talk you through some of the tweaks you can make for your own recipe.
Traditionally, Victoria Sponge is made with raspberry jam, no buttercream and caster sugar sprinkled on top. However this cake is equally delicious with strawberry jam and buttercream filling. It’s also beautiful as a summer dessert with fresh strawberries. raspberries and lightly whipped cream in the middle. Take your pick!
My personal preference is for strawberry jam and caster sugar as the topping (I know, I know. I used icing sugar for my photos. It looks prettier ) A bit of a controversy with this cake is whether you use butter or margarine in the cake batter. I personally use margarine. Butter provides excellent flavour in certain recipes and for most baking I will use butter, however using margarine in this case means the ‘all-in-one’ method can be used. As margarine will not cause the eggs to curdle, all the ingredients can be quickly beaten together in one bowl. As soon as they are combined, stop mixing, as overworking the flour can cause a heavy cake. I’ve tasted the Victoria sponge using butter and then margarine and it really doesn’t affect the flavour. Try it and see!
Ensure that you bake both halves of the cake on the same oven shelf, as this should mean that they rise evenly. Don’t worry if one looks more perfect than the other, just pick this one to be the top
My recipe makes one 7 inch cake (2 layers), if you’s like an 8 inch cake, simply increase the 4 main ingredients to 225g and the baking powder to 2 teaspoons.
Do you ever use margarine rather than butter in baking?
One of my all time favourite cakes and yours looks absolutely delicious! I often use margarine instead of butter in cakes, tend to use butter in things like biscuits where you can taste the difference.
Thank you
I couldn’t quite believe that I’ve had the blog for a few months and not posted about this cake until today! Totally agree about the biscuit vs cake with the butter, it seems to be more essential for that richer taste that biscuits and cookies need.
Boy I’m hungry now!
I’ve never made a Victoria Sponge with margarine before. I’ve had lots of different kinds of success with other cakes messing around with which butter brand you use and the softness really makes a huge difference. I love President butter but it doesn’t blend well in cakes so it’s best left for buttercream. I find Tesco’s own brand butter (not the really cheap one, the one up) is best for cakes – and I’ve tested a LOT! And I always use Flora for marg as it has the best taste. Which brands do you use?
I have to admit, I tend to use the cheapest Tesco butter for baking (just as I get through so much of it!) I always without fail use Stork as baking margarine, which is more out of habit really! It works very well though
I love President butter for eating!
This is gorgeous!
Thank you Dorothy!
This look delicious–I love the simplicity of it!
Simple but delicious! Thank you Tiffany
Sometimes you just can’t beat the classics – this looks perfect!
Thank you Lucy! I have fond memories of this cake, so it had to be done
Hi, Your victoria sponge cake looks delicous. I was just wondering but have you tried this recipe with all purpose flour? And does this cake taste fluffy or is it dense? I’ve made sponge cakes before and they came out really dense. I would also like to make this in two 8 inch pans as I can’t find a 7 inch pans
Hi Jazzmin,
Thank you for the lovely comment! You can make this recipe using all purpose flour, I would use an extra 1tsp of baking powder for every 100g of flour (as well as the baking powder stated in the recipe), this should give it the lift you want. For an 8 inch cake, simply increase the amounts of all ingredients to 225g, use 4 eggs and increase the baking powder to 3 tsp in total. My recipe is very light and fluffy (it is the baking powder that makes all the difference!) Let me know how you get on