My favourite cake is a Victoria Sponge Cake. There is something so simple and perfect about it. I have been making Victoria sponge cakes since I was a child. Back then I thought my mum named them after me so I thought they were very special indeed! To me, it is the simplest cake to make which makes it taste all the better. Sometimes I don’t even get to the baking stage, I just eat the cake mix!
Last weekend, I was feeling very tired and restless having just returned from holiday. All I wanted was a slice of cake but I knew if I made a whole cake, I’d eat it all. So instead, I decided to make mini Victoria sponges which would make it easier for me to have just the one (or two) and then I could hand the rest out to my friends.
This recipe can also be used to make one Victoria sponge cake using two 20cm/8in round baking tins. In this case I used a rectangular baking tin measuring 30 x 20 x 5cm /12 x 8 x 2 inches.
Ingredients
225g/8oz caster sugar
225g/8oz butter, room temperature (personally, I prefer to use Stork margarine, I find it makes a lighter cake)
225g/8oz self raising flour, sifted (alternatively you can use plain flour and add 4tsp baking powder)
4 large eggs (if you can get duck eggs, they will make the sponge richer)
2 level tsp baking powder
1 tbsp milk
To decorate: jam, double/heavy cream and icing/confectioners sugar.
Begin by preheating your oven to 190C conventional/170C fan/375F/gas mark 5 and grease and line your baking tin/s.
In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer or with a handheld electric whisk until light and fluffy and pale in colour. This will take about 3 minutes.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, following each with a spoonful of the flour mixed with the baking powder. Once you have added all the eggs, fold in the remaining flour, occasionally scraping down the bowl with a spatula. Finally stir in the milk.
Transfer the mixture to your baking tin/s and level the surface.
Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until well risen, golden in colour and firm to the touch. Turn onto a wire rack to cool.
As I was making mini sponges, I took a cookie cutter measuring 6cm/2.5inches and cut out 12 sponges.
I was initially planning on using one as the top and another one as the bottom, but they worked out to be too big, so instead I just sliced each one in half which meant I got 24 mini sponge cakes out of my tin altogether.
I spread a little strawberry jam onto each half and sandwiched them together with some whipped double cream. I then dusted the top with icing/confectioners sugar and topped with a slice of strawberry. You can of course use raspberry jam, or cherry jam…whatever you prefer.
And there you have it…perfect little Victoria sponge cakes, just desperate to be eaten with a cup of tea. What could be better?
5 Comments
Hi, I’ve tried this recipe and it’s AMAZING! I have a question though, can you make these into cupcakes?
Oh I’m so glad they turned out well! 🙂
I think with cupcakes, you really need to bake them in a muffin tray with cupcake cases. its just so they are ‘sealed’ around the edges otherwise you will just end up with lots of crumbs when eating them. But you can of course do what you want. I just did these ones like that because they looked cute.
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Do you think I could decorate these with cream the night before & keep them in the fridge until the next day or will they not be as good? Thanks
Hmmm to be honest they wouldn’t be quite as good. They wouldn’t be awful, just not quite as fresh. The sponges keep perfectly in an airtight container for a couple of days. They’re also great to freeze. When they have cream and jam in them they start getting a bit soggy if left for too long. If you can store the sponges overnight on their own then fill the next day that would be better. Good luck!