This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
One of my favourite recipe websites – obviously apart from the marvellous catalogue of 800 recipes on A&G – is Olive. Everything looks so yummy. Anyhow, I am attempting this Victoria Sponge cake recipe on Sunday morning as a Mother’s Day treat for myself and Marvellous Mother In Law, as my son lives in London and cannot be with me (weeps quietly into a tissue).
4
servings20
minutes25
minutesYou get so many useful tips with this recipe, see below.
Ingredients
salted butter 200g, softened, plus a little for the tins
golden caster sugar 200g
eggs 4 large, room temperature
self-raising flour 200g
vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract ¾ tsp
baking powder 1 tsp
whole milk a splash (if needed)
FILLING:
double cream 300ml
icing sugar 1 tbsp, plus extra to serve
vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract 1 tsp
seedless raspberry jam 150g
raspberries 200g
Directions
- Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 and butter and base-line 2 x 20cm loose-bottomed sandwich tins with baking paper. Put the butter and golden caster sugar into a large bowl and use electric beaters to beat the mixture for at least 5 minutes until it turns pale creamy white. Add the eggs 1 at a time, along with 1 tbsp of flour with each egg, and beat for 1 minute between each addition. Continue to beat until tripled in volume and very light and airy. Beat in the vanilla paste.
- Sift the remaining flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt into a separate bowl. Add half into the batter and use a large metal spoon to gently fold it in, being careful not to knock out any air. Add the remaining flour mixture and gently fold in. The mixture should drop off the spoon easily – if not, add 1 tbsp of milk and gently fold again. Divide equally between the tins and bake for 20-25 minutes or until risen, golden and a skewer poked into the centres come out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in their tins, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Whip the cream, icing sugar and vanilla to soft peaks. Put the jam into a bowl and add 1 tbsp of boiling water to loosen to a drizzle-able consistency. Put one of the sponges onto a serving plate, then spoon over the cream. Scatter the raspberries evenly all over, then drizzle over the jam. Put the other sponge on top, then dust over icing sugar and serve.
8 simple steps to the perfect Victoria Sponge Cake
1. BE PREPARED Having everything weighed out, the tins lined and oven heated beforehand means you can get the cakes into the oven quickly before the airy batter starts losing volume.
2. SOFT BUTTER Make sure your butter is extremely soft (but not melted). The butter will bond more easily with the sugar allowing for extra air bubbles when you beat it.
3. GOOD EGGS Fresh, room temperature eggs hold more air than old or fridge cold ones, so this will give you a head start on creating a lighter sponge.
4. ADDING THE EGGS At once would make the mixture too heavy, stopping it from whipping up. Adding them one by one means you can avoid knocking the air out of the mix.
5. SIFT Sifting the flour separates out the particles, creating more air pockets, meaning more air gets into the mixture.
6. FOLDING Using a large metal spoon to gently fold the flour in, in two halves, means you knock out as little of the air you’ve created as possible.
7. DROPPING CONSISTENCY ‘Dropping consistency’ – getting a batter that drops easily off a metal spoon – is a careful balance between butter, sugar and flour. If the mix is a little stiff, add a little milk until you get exactly the right consistency, which will mean the sponge will bake to its full, light potential.
8. MAKE ON THE DAY YOU ARE GOING TO EAT IT When it’s at its soft, springy best.
Hope you enjoy using this Victoria Sponge cake recipe. Lots more sweet treats for you to impress your family with here