Victoria sponge recipe

Details

• Cuisine: English
• Recipe Type: Cake
• Difficulty: Easy
• Preparation Time: 20 mins
• Cooking Time: 25 mins
• Serves: 12

Step-by-step

1. Take the baking margarine and butter out of the fridge a while before you are planning on baking. This means they will soften and be easier to work with. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4.
2. Grease and line two 8in/20cm round sandwich tins. To do this, tear a small piece of baking paper and use it to spread some of the baking margarine on the bottom and inside of the both tins. Cut two circles of baking paper to line the bottom of each tin. (Draw round the base of each tin, fold each circle into four and cut out. Unfold and place in the bottom of each tin, and lightly grease with a little baking margarine.)
3. Put the caster sugar and baking margarine in a mixing bowl and mix together with a wooden spoon until smooth.
4. Break in one egg and lightly cover with a large dessert spoon full of the flour (use a sieve to make sure there are no lumps).
5. Mix together until the egg is fully worked into the cake mix. Repeat this process with the remaining three eggs. When all of the eggs are mixed in, add the remainder of the flour (again, sieved), and stir well.
6. Divide the cake mixture evenly between your two sandwich tins. The mixture will naturally rise more in the middle of the tin, so ensure there is slightly more mixture around the edges to help make the sponges as even as possible. Don't worry too much about any lumps in the mixture - these will work their way out in the oven.
7. Pop the sponges in the oven for around 25 minutes (or until done) and watch the magic happen! A perfectly cooked sponge will feel springy to the touch, not soggy in the middle, and the edges of well-baked sponge will begin to pull away slightly from the edges of its tin.
8. When cooked, take the sponges out of the oven and leave in their tins to cool for around two minutes only. Then, take the sponges out of their tins to cool on a rack. Remember to cool the cakes the right way up, as the rack will mark the sponges.
9. For the buttercream filling, take your softened butter and place in a mixing bowl with the sieved icing sugar. Mix together until light, fluffy and easily spreadable.
10. Spread the buttercream onto the under-side of one of your sponges (i.e. the side that was down on the cooling rack). Make sure it goes right up to the edges - that way, the filling will look deliciously full when the cake is whole.
11. Spread the jam on the other sponge, adding sliced fresh strawberries if you choose. Again, make sure the filling goes right up to the edges of the cake.
12. Gently lift one sponge on top of the other and voila! You should have the perfect Victoria sponge.