Victoria Sponge Cake
Today I baked a classic English cake: a Victoria Sponge Cake. This cake was named after Queen Victoria. After the death of her husband Prince Albert, Queen Victoria spent time at her house on the Isle of Wight, withdrawing herself from society. In order to inspire the monarch to get back into the swing of civic duties, Queen Victoria was encouraged to host tea parties, where this famous cake came about. I have tried this cake before, and I loved it! Today I made it again with a minor change; instead of layering the whipped cream between the cakes, I poured it on top. Rating: 5 out of 5.Victoria Sponge Cake recipe: Nigella Lawson - How To Be A Domestic Goddess
Ingredients:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, very soft
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/3 cups self-rising cake flour (I used regular flour with ½ tsp salt, 1 ½ tsp baking powder, and 2 extra tablespoons cornstarch)
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 to 4 tablespoons milk
- 2 to 4 tablespoons raspberry jam, or other jam (I needed 4 to 5 tablespoons, and used strawberry jam)
- ½ pint raspberries, or berries of choice
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 to 2 tablespoons sugar
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Cream the butter and sugar, add the vanilla and then the eggs one at a time, adding a spoonful of flour between each. Fold in the rest of the flour and cornstarch and when it's all incorporated, add a little milk as you need.
- Pour and scrape the batter into two 8-inch round cake pans that have been buttered and lined with parchment or wax paper. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the cakes are beginning to come away from the edges, are springy to the touch on top and a cake tester comes away clean. Leave the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 min before turning out and leaving to cool completely.
- When you're ready to eat the cake, put one layer on a plate, right-way up, spread with jam and scatter fruit on top. Whip the cream till it's thickened but still soft and spread over the jammy fruit. Sit the other cake on top and sprinkle with a tablespoon or so of sugar.
Comments
What is regular flour? Is it all purpose flour?
Contrary to popular belief otherwise, I use salted butter and often omit the salt called for elsewhere in the recipe, like I did with this one. I don’t use unsalted butter otherwise and don’t want odd bits left over, so I always bake with salted butter – it’s not a crime.