Probably my all time favourite cake is a Victoria Sponge, Timeless and Classic yet so simple to bake! As you may know I've gotten really into baking recently so I just knew I had to attempt my favourite sponge as soon as possible. I never knew how easy this cake was to bake so I think you'll be pleasantly surprised and pleased with how quick and simple my recipe is.
You will need -
For The Cake
3 Large Free Range Eggs
Softened Unsalted Butter
Caster Sugar
Self Raising Flower
1tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1-2 TBS Milk
1 20cm Non-stick Cake Tin
Wire Cake Cutter
For The Filling Jam/Butter Cream -
100g Softened Unsalted Butter
200g Icing sugar
2tsp Vanilla Extract
Strawberry Jam
The first thing you want to do is weight your 3 large eggs in their shells and whatever they weigh, you will then need to weight out the same amount of your butter, self raising flower and caster sugar. I only used 2 eggs for my first attempt but they weighed 138g so I had to weight out 138g of butter, self raising flower and caster sugar.
I start by mixing with my electric hand mixer the sugar and butter on their own until they are light and fluffy. I then sift into my bowl the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder so that there is air within all the ingredients. I mix this all together until it is a nice batter consistency.
I start by mixing with my electric hand mixer the sugar and butter on their own until they are light and fluffy. I then sift into my bowl the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder so that there is air within all the ingredients. I mix this all together until it is a nice batter consistency.
Once that is all mixed well but not too over mixed as I didn't want it to become to dense I added the 2 eggs, 2 tbs of milk and 1tsp of Vanilla Extract to my bowl and mixed that again just to loosen the batter a little and add some more flavour to the mixture.
When I was happy with the consistency and it looked as pictured above, I then put all of my cake batter into a 20cm loose base non stick cake tin. Most people tend to use 2 cake tins but as I only have a small halogen oven I didn't want to take ages baking so I baked the whole cake as one instead of two parts.
I baked my cake in my oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes, then covered it with baking foil and baked it again for a further 15 minutes as the middle of my cake was still not baked but I didn't want my halogen oven to burn the cake.
When I was happy with the consistency and it looked as pictured above, I then put all of my cake batter into a 20cm loose base non stick cake tin. Most people tend to use 2 cake tins but as I only have a small halogen oven I didn't want to take ages baking so I baked the whole cake as one instead of two parts.
I baked my cake in my oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes, then covered it with baking foil and baked it again for a further 15 minutes as the middle of my cake was still not baked but I didn't want my halogen oven to burn the cake.
Whilst my cake was baking, I made the butter cream filling. For this I used 100g of Unsalted butter softened and beat it on its own with the electric mixer until it had lost most of its colour and was fluffy.
I then mixed in the 200g of icing sugar. This is were the butter cream doesn't look correct at all and I panicked a little as it hadn't come together and looked more like a crumb base than butter cream.
I then mixed in the 200g of icing sugar. This is were the butter cream doesn't look correct at all and I panicked a little as it hadn't come together and looked more like a crumb base than butter cream.
I then added 2TBSP of milk and mixed it again. This is where the magic happens and the soft perfect butter cream emerges. As I only used 100g of butter for this butter cream it did taste a little over sugary so I then added 2tsp of Vanilla extract and it tasted amazing!
I then forgot to photograph the next steps but once my cake had fully cooled down out of the oven, I just carefully used my wire cake cutter and sliced my cake in half. I started applying a nice even layer of the butter cream to the bottom layer of my cake and then I applied the jam to the underside of the top layer and sandwiched them together.
Finishing the cake with a light dusting of icing sugar, it was ready to be enjoyed and that we did! It was light and spongy yet not dry or crumbly. Craig said it was the best cake he has had in ages and we do buy a lot of cake so that was an incredible bit of feedback. I know he may have been a tad biased but I do ask for him to be honest with his opinion so that I can improve on the not to perfect parts but he said it was pretty perfect which I'm overjoyed with.
The cake could have been a lot thicker and taller in height if I had used two cake tins and 3 eggs not 2 but this was my first attempt, a trial run if you like for when I have the full ingredients and equipment. I cannot wait to make this again soon and incorporate real strawberries to the filling and on top for decoration.
What do you think? Whats your favourite type of cake, let me know in the comments!
The cake could have been a lot thicker and taller in height if I had used two cake tins and 3 eggs not 2 but this was my first attempt, a trial run if you like for when I have the full ingredients and equipment. I cannot wait to make this again soon and incorporate real strawberries to the filling and on top for decoration.
What do you think? Whats your favourite type of cake, let me know in the comments!
