Victoria Sponge (Victoria Sandwich)

Name: Victoria Sponge (Victoria Sandwich)
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: British (English)
Ingredients: 200 g Butter, softened; 200 g Caster sugar; 4 Eggs; 200 g Self-raising flour; 1 tsp Baking powder; 1 tsp Vanilla extract; 2 tbsp Milk; 150 g Raspberry or strawberry jam; 200 ml Double cream, whipped; Icing sugar

Two light sponge layers sandwiched with raspberry jam and whipped cream, the top dusted with nothing more than icing sugar. Named after Queen Victoria, who took it with her afternoon tea — the plainest and most perfect of British cakes.

Fuente

Receta de British home baking · 🏺 Tradicional · The British baking tradition — sponges, scones and puddings passed down through home kitchens and tea rooms

English · traditional cake — An ownerless traditional dish, so no cook is credited. 'Victoria sponge' redirects to the cited 'Sponge cake' article, which is what is stored here. It records that the cake is named after Queen Victoria, who ate it with afternoon tea; that the version she ate was filled with jam alone while modern versions often add cream; that the top is simply dusted with sugar rather than iced; and that it evolved from the pound cake of equal flour, butter, sugar and eggs, rising higher after the invention of baking powder in 1843. The classic recipe contains no almonds, which is why it is tagged nut-free. Quantities and method here are this book's own.

Background on Wikipedia ↗

Watch it being made · 3 videos

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⏱ 50 min🍽 8 porciones🔥 410 kcal🇬🇧 Reino Unido

HalalVegetarianoSin frutos secos

Pasos

Heat the oven to 180°C. Butter two 20 cm sandwich tins and line the bases with baking paper. Beat the soft butter and caster sugar together for 3–4 minutes until pale and fluffy.
💡 This creaming stage is where the cake gets most of its lift — the longer you beat, the more air you fold in. Pale and fluffy, not just mixed.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a spoonful of the flour with each if it looks like splitting. Fold in the rest of the flour and baking powder gently, then stir in the vanilla and enough milk to make a soft batter that drops off the spoon.
💡 Fold the flour in with a light hand — beating hard at this point knocks the air back out and bakes a dense, tight cake.
Divide the batter evenly between the two tins and level the tops. Bake for 22–25 minutes until golden, risen and springy to the touch, and a skewer comes out clean.
💡 Weigh the batter into the two tins if you can — equal layers bake level and stack neatly. Do not open the oven for the first 20 minutes or the sponges can sink.
Cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and leave until completely cold. Warm sponge melts the cream and tears when you spread the jam.
Spread jam over the flat side of one sponge, spread or pipe the whipped cream over the other, and sandwich them together. Dust the top with icing sugar and nothing else.

💡 Consejos

The classic ratio is dead simple: equal weights of butter, sugar, flour and eggs. Weigh your eggs in their shells and match the other three to that number and it works every time, at any size.
The classic Victoria sponge has no almonds or nuts, so this is genuinely nut-free — do not confuse it with a Bakewell or a frangipane, which are almond-based. It is halal and vegetarian too.
Jam only is the historic filling; jam and cream is the modern standard; jam and buttercream keeps longer out of the fridge for a bake sale. All three are 'correct'.