The Great British Bake Off has shared the ultimate tip for the best Victoria sponge cake, and it’s all in your baking technique. This easy Bake it Better: Classic Cakes recipe takes no more than 25 minutes of prep time and is an instant classic, guaranteed to tantalise the taste buds of any sweet-toothed guest.
Whether you’re hosting a party, gifting it to a friend or just fancy a slice for yourself, you cannot go wrong with this recipe, shared by the best of the best. Before diving into things, you need to make sure you have all of the key ingredients for your Victoria sponge cake. This includes three medium eggs, 175g of unsalted butter, 175g of caster sugar, and 175g of self-raising flour.
Not forgetting ¾ teaspoon of vanilla extract and one tablespoon of warm water.
For your filling, all you’ll need is around six tablespoons of good-quality raspberry jam and 150ml of double whipped cream that’s well chilled, paired with some icing sugar for some light dusting.
Kick things off by preheating the oven to 180°C/160°C and greasing and lining any cake tins you’ll be using with butter and baking paper.
Then, you want to weigh your eggs and match whatever that weight is for your other key ingredients – this tends to be around 175g.
Get started by adding your soft butter into a mixing bowl and beating it well with a spoon or whisk until it turns to a creamier texture.
The key here is scraping down any forgotten butter from the sides of the bowl, using a spatula, so no measurement goes to waste.
The recipe suggests you continue to beat it well for an entire minute until it looks “very light and fluffy”, scraping the mixture down again.
Then it’s time to break the three eggs into a separate jug with your vanilla extract and beat with a fork until the eggs just begin to separate.
It’s best to add the egg mixture to your butter carefully, one tablespoon at a time, and beat it after each addition, not forgetting to scrape the excess from the sides.
In case the mixture appears to be curdling or splitting, the recipe advises that you stir in a tablespoon of flour along with the last two spoons of your egg mixture.
Next, sift your flour into the mixture and begin to fold it gently into your mixing bowl with a large spoon before adding in the warm water. Continue to keep folding in the flour until it’s combined with the eggs and butter, with no signs of streaks.
Now that your mixture is ready, you want to divide it evenly between two of your prepped baking tins. This can easily be done by eyeballing it, but if you want to be really precise, you can use scales.
It’s time to get baking for 20-25 minutes until your sponges are a light golden brown. Once they’re ready, it’s best to loosen the sponge from the tin using a rounded knife and leave them both until they’re cooled off.
For the finishing touches, add your raspberry jam to one of your sponge bases before pouring your cream into a bowl and whipping it.
Once it’s chilled, gently smooth it over the jam and add your second layer of sponge. Last but not least, dust your cake with the icing sugar, and voila, you have yourself a delicious Victoria sponge cake.