If this is an easy cake to make, why do some cakes turn out amazing and some turn out dry? That’s because there is a skill in making the perfect Victoria sponge and because some people think it is easy, they may rush it and it doesn’t turn out as well as it should do.
The perfect sponge is both an art and a science. The ingredients need to be measured exactly, as they react together in the oven to make the spongy deliciousness, which is the science bit. The art comes from the way you make it. It is imperative that you don’t rush each stage and that the ingredients are mixed well, otherwise the science won’t work.
Ingredients:
225g baking margarine (I use Stork)
225g white sugar (Doesn’t have to be caster sugar)
4 large eggs
225g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Strawberry jam
I would suggest weighing all your ingredients out first, before you start to make the mix.
I break the eggs into a bowl, whisk them together and weigh them to 225g. That might seem a little excessive but if your eggs are too large, the cake will be soggy and if the eggs are too small, the cake will be dry, so this is worth doing. If the eggs are small and weigh less than 225g, just add some milk to bring the weight to 225g. If the eggs are too large and weigh more than 225g, beat them together and then take some out with a teaspoon.
When everything is weighed, put the margarine and the sugar in the mixing bowl and whisk together until all the grains of sugar are incorporated into the fat. Then add the eggs and whisk again. When the eggs are nicely mixed in, throw in the flour and the baking powder and continue to whisk on high speed for a minute or so. You can tell when the mixture is ready because it will fall off a spoon in a blob quite easily.
I use Stork or Flora baking margarine in my sponge cakes because it gives a lighter sponge than butter.
Divide the sponge mix equally between two 20cm round baking tins, which have been lined with baking paper, and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes at 170 degrees. I actually weigh each tin so that the mixture in each is equal. Apart from making the cake look more uniform, it means that each tin will cook in the same amount of time.
If you are like me and you have watched The Great British Bake Off, you will know that you should not open the oven door until the cake is cooked, otherwise it will dip in the middle. The cake should be ready after 25 minutes, so time it carefully and don’t open the door until then. To check, put a tiny knife into the centre and if it comes out clean, the cake is ready. It may need a couple of minutes more, but no more than 5. Every oven is different, so if you want to make gorgeous cakes regularly, you need to get to know your own oven and note the cooking times down somewhere for next time. In the oven at the café, I bake this cake for 25 minutes, but at home, it takes 30 minutes.
When the cake has cooled in the tin for a few minutes, put it on a wire cooling tray (the inside of your grill tray is perfect) so that it cools evenly. Then sandwich the two halves together with strawberry jam and decorate with a dusting of icing sugar or sprinkles of white sugar. Strictly speaking, the traditional Victoria sponge, named after Queen Victoria, had caster sugar on top, but you might prefer icing sugar.
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