Victoria Sponge – Celebration Cake!
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A delicious classic bake – a Victoria sponge. Soft & light cakes, strawberry jam, vanilla buttercream & fresh strawberries!
Victoria sponge
Strawberry season isn’t quiiiite here yet, but I bought a packet anyway and they were surprisingly tasty! This led me to think I should 100% do something with them, but definitely not overdo them. So… I thought I would bake a classic! Funnily enough it is one of the simplest and yet most delicious classic cakes around!
When I was younger I used to think that this type of cake was boring – why would I want it if it’s not chocolate? But oh how naive was I. This cake is SO GOOD and one of the best cakes in the world. However, sometimes the simplest of things can be the most difficult to get absolutely perfect!
Layers
I find that with a Victoria sponge, it’s all about getting everything perfectly in proportion. Such as, if you’re making a two layered cake, everything should be 300g (i.e. the sugar, flour, butter and eggs) and same for if you were doing a larger cake – everything should be 400g! It makes it far simpler and generally provides a foolproof cake. This recipe is for a three layer, 8 inch cake – so for a smaller cake (two layers), simply reduce the cake ingredients to 300g, split the mixture into two tins, and bake for 20 minutes!
Eggs
I weigh out my eggs when making a cake like this so I have no doubts it’s going to work, and once you know your oven well enough you will know when is the perfect time to take the cake out of the oven and when it might need a tiny while longer in the oven!
Cream or buttercream?
This cake is traditionally served with fresh fruit and whipped cream, or jam and buttercream – its entirely up to you! Personally, when i’m making it last a bit longer, I use buttercream so that it stays fresh for longer – whereas the cream may go a bit icky, especially on a hot day!
Assemble
I tend to pipe my buttercream around the edge of each layer, then a bit more in the middle with my jam sitting on the top, it tends to not slide around this way! It also stops jam sliding down the sides so you keep the nice clean edges of the 3 layers of sponge. I use strawberry jam in this recipe however if you would prefer raspberry then why not?! Enjoy!
Victoria sponge - Celebration Cake!
Ingredients
Cake
- 400 g unsalted butter (softened)
- 400 g caster sugar
- 400 g eggs (roughly 8 eggs)
- 400 g self raising flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 4 tbsp whole milk
Decoration
- 150 g unsalted butter
- 450 g icing sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 175 g strawberry jam
- fresh strawberries
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 190ºC/170ºC fan and line three 20cm/8inch cake tins.
- In a large bowl, beat together the unsalted butter and caster sugar until combined.
- Then, add your eggs, whole milk, self raising flour and baking powder, and beat until combined again - but be careful to not over beat.
- Divide the mixture equally between the three tins and smooth it over.
- Bake for 25 minutes until the cake is golden and springs back (a skewer should also come out clean).
- Turn the sponges out onto a cooling rack and leave to cool fully.
Vanilla Buttercream
- Beat the unsalted butter with an electric mixer until it's smooth and loose.
- Then, gradually beat in the icing sugar & vanilla extract.
- If the icing is too stiff, add 1 tbsp whole milk at a time to get your desired thickness!
Decoration
- Spread or pipe the buttercream onto the top of one of the sponges, then spoon on half of your jam.
- Place the second sponge on top and repeat the process - finish with the third sponge, and any left over buttercream on top!
- Add some fresh strawberries, perhaps a sprinkle of icing sugar and serve!
Notes
- When decorating the cake, I like to pipe a small amount of the buttercream around the edge of the sponges, then put a little more in the middle with the jam on top - this stops it falling out all over the place, but this is simply my choice! 🙂
- This cake will last in an airtight container for 3 days, or you can freeze it for up to 3 months!
- I use this piping bag
- I use this Medium 2D Closed Star Piping Tip
- I use these 8" Cake Tin
ENJOY!
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J x
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Why are my questions not being oh published?
Help!! My sponge seems fine when I take out of oven but then starts to get oily to the touch. Especially the bottom when I peel away the parchment paper. Stork was not too soft in fact I used straight out of fridge because this happened before and I though it could be that the stork was too soft . Eggs were room temp . Don’t know why it keeps happening. I did use the creaming method which I have drone in past and it’s been fine .
It may be that they just needed a bit more baking, or, it’s just a tiny bit greasy which can happen!
Hi Jane! Making this cake for my mums 60th birthday at the weekend (can’t wait!). Do you use unsalted, or salted butter for both the cake and the buttercream, please/does stork work? Would the cakes keep fresh enough if I make them tomorrow, and then make the buttercream and assemble the cake the day after? Thanks so much! x
For cake sponges you can use an unsalted block butter or a baking spread, but for buttercream you should only use block butter – spreads aren’t good for buttercreams! And yes they would! x
Hello and thank you for the Victoria sponge recipe , I’m new to baking but I have to ask what’s the difference between the Victoria Sponge and a regular vanilla cake , it’s rare , here in the US that you will find someone make a Victoria sponge cake.
Thank you
It depends on your opinion basically – a Victoria sponge is the same as basic vanilla cake, but it’s just the filling that usually changes it! Classically it’s a cake made of eggs/sugar/butter/flour filled with just jam, or whipped cream and fruit, or buttercream!
Hi Jane love your recipes I’m going to make the triple sponge cake using 3 tins. Will I bake them all at the same time on separate shelves. Thanks a mill
It depends on the oven type – I have a fan so put two on one shelf, and one underneath and they are fine, but I believe other ovens can bake quite differently on different shelves x
Hi.
I can’t seem to get the butter icing right. It seems to split and go really soft. HELP haha
What exact type of butter do you use, and how do you mix it?
Hi Jane.
My uncle turns 50 on Friday and his favourite cake is a Victoria sponge. This recipe looks perfect but I was hoping you could help me with adapting the recipe to make a 2-tier 23cm x 30cm cake. I have decided to decorate the cake as a football pitch as he is a huge football fan.
Hey! So it’s only a rough estimate but you would probably need double?! It’s really hard to say but I use this website – http://www.cakebaker1.co.uk/apps-for-bakers/baking-tin-size-conversion-calculator/
Hi, how would you make this recipe gluten free please??
Yep, I would swap to GF flour, and use xantham gum to help bind it!
Thank you! How much xantham gum?
1 teaspoon!
Hi my brother in law wants a Victoria sponge for his fortieth but I was thinking about making it into a drip cake, what drip flavour would you think would go with it?
You could do a white chocolate one and colour it, but it’s completely up to you! Alot of people just do a regular chocolate one as its a nice contrast x
Thank you and which cake boxes/tins do you use – I have a tall cake tin but when I decorate the three layers the lid squashes the top 😬
The best thing I find to use is an actual cake box – usually, they are at least 6″ tall which is good for a drip cake! x
For the cake batter could I use stork?
Yes!
Hi Jane! I’ve been searching for a good recipe for a Victoria Sponge as I’ve been asked to make one for a wedding cake and I’d love to try this. Is this suitable for a wedding cake tier? The bride & groom are undecided about covering the tier in buttercream or fondant. Is it suitable for both? Thanks! x
Hey! So yes I think it is, as long as you dowel and stack the cake correctly! xx
I only have 9″ tins so what would the baking time be?
You would need to make the quantities bigger, by about 1/3 more – otherwise the sponges will be far too thin. Then, the baking time will increase. I’m not 100% sure how much longer though as I don’t often bake 9″ cakes x
Hi Jane
I’ve just used this recipe for a birthday cake and it’s a disaster! Its come out lumpy/bumpy on top and looks awful!
Reading through the comments it looks like I didn’t weigh the eggs properly and weighed 400g of egg only not the shell! Will it still be ok to eat….or shall I start again?
Thanks!
It may just be that the cake had air in it – have you actually tried the sponges? It likely is too much egg. But if you think it’s a disaster it’s probably not saveable!
Hi Jane, I am looking to make a six layered rainbow cake at the weekend, would you recommend this sponge recipe to use, I want to flavour each layer to, would I have to adjust anything?
Yes a basic sponge like this is ideal for a rainbow cake – if you double it you will get six layers, it will just be a very tall cake x
Hi Jane,
Looking to make this today and noticed the butter to icing sugar ratio is 1:3 on this but on all your other recipes it seems to be 1:2, is this meant to be different on this one? Thanks!
Sara
You can change it to the other ratio if you want, but this recipe is correct as written. x