Victorian sponge cake

Sometimes there is nothing better than a classic traditional sponge cake…they are perfect for birthday’s, special occasions or simply a high tea. For this reason we decided to make a Victorian sponge for Candice’s baby shower, which was a few weeks ago now.

I am a huge fan of a vanilla sponge…love them…they are light and delicious. They also remind me of summer days, especially when paired with strawberries and cream…for me that is the perfect combo but let you imagination go wild as you can make any flavour combinations.

I adapted this delicious recipe from the fantastic food blogger – Sarah Graham. She is the host for The Art of Baking Course, run through Yuppiechef Cooking School…which I recently completed. Sarah is awesome and I love her recipes…she not only has a love for food but a great understanding of it and complementing flavours. Go check out her blog – A Foodie Lives Here…it is so worth a visit!

Hints & tips :

  • The sponge is delicate, so be careful when putting it together as it can crack easily
  • Be careful not to put too much filling or it will just squeeze out the sides
  • You change the flavour by adding a Passion Fruit coulis instead of chopped strawberries or all some strawberry jam to give it more of a strawberry flavour
Traditional Victorian sponge with strawberries and cream

Traditional Victorian sponge cake with strawberries and cream

traditional Victorian sponge

Ingredients

    for the cake
  • 200 g butter, softened
  • 200 g castor sugar
  • 4 eggs, at room temperature
  • 200 g self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1–2 tbsp milk, to loosen if necessary
  • for the filling & topping
  • 250 ml whipped cream for the centre
  • 125 g strawberries, halves for centre
  • Icing sugar for dusting

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 190ºC and grease two 20cm cake tins.
  2. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. This will take between 3 - 5 minutes.
  3. Sift together the dry ingredients.
  4. Add the eggs and remaining dry ingredients to the creamed butter and sugar in alternate stages and then add in the vanilla extract. The mixture should be at ‘dropping consistency’, if you need to loosen it slightly then add a little milk.
  5. Divide the batter between the cake tins and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer or cake tester, inserted into the centre comes out clean.
  6. Leave the cakes to cool in their tins for about a minute and then run a spatula around the inside edge. Turn the cakes out onto a wire cooling rack.
  7. Once the cakes have cooled completely, top the first cake with the whipped cream and cut strawberries, place the second cake gently on top and dust lightly with icing sugar before serving immediately.
http://allthingspretty.co.za/victorian-sponge-cake/

  2 comments for “Victorian sponge cake

  1. Imasha Jayasuriya
    9 June 2015 at 2:34 am

    Love this recipe and the cake sounds yummy. Going to make it today. Will comment after baking and serving. Thank you. Keep up the good work and post more recipes. Got to know of site from an advertisement from the free online book site 5novels.

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