Victoria Sponge Cake

A large slice of Victoria sponge always feels like a treat. Decorate your bake with fresh fruit and flowers for a crowd-pleasing, show-stopping cake. We have piped buttercream into the middle of our cake using a piping bag and a large star tip nozzle but you can spread the buttercream with a mini spatula if you prefer.

Enjoy x 

Equipment

Small mixing bowl

Large mixing bowl

Hand-held mixer with whisk attachments

Silicone headed spatula

Baking paper circles, diameter 20cm (8 inches)

Tala springform cake tin, diameter 20cm (8 inches)

Measuring spoons

Cake tester

Piping bag fitted with a large star tip nozzle

Mini palette knife

Small sharp knife

Chopping board

Icing sugar shaker

Kitchen scissors

Wire cooling rack

 Ingredients

For the sponge:

5 medium size free-range eggs

300g caster sugar

300g margarine or salted butter, softened

300g self-raising flour

For the filling:

150g salted butter, softened

175g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting

½ tsp vanilla extract

3 tbs seedless raspberry jam

Small punnet strawberries, washed and dried

Fresh food-safe flowers to decorate

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius (302 degrees Fahrenheit).
2. Place a greaseproof paper circle in the bottom of each tin.
3. Crack the eggs into a small bowl. 
4. Place the caster sugar and margarine in the large mixing bowl and cream together with the hand-held mixer. Take your time over this - keep going until the mixture is really pale and fluffy.
5. Spoon approximately two tablespoons of flour over the mixture and then tip in all of the eggs.
6. Mix with the hand-held mixer then scrape down the sides of the bowl with the silicone headed spatula. Add another tablespoon of flour and mix again, just until the mixture is smooth.
7. Put the hand-held mixer to one side and fold in the remaining flour with the silicone-headed spatula. Try not to over mix.  
8. Divide the mixture between the two tins. 
9. Bake in the centre of the oven for fifteen minutes then turn the tins and bake for another fifteen minutes. Check and bake for a further 10 minutes until golden brown. 

Test the cakes with a cake tester. They are ‘done’ when the cake tester, inserted into the middle of each cake, appears clean when removed.

10. Remove from the oven and allow the cakes to sit in their tins, on a heat-proof surface, for five minutes. 
11. Turn out the cakes and allow them to cool entirely on a cooling rack.
12. Prepare the buttercream filling by creaming the softened butter with the icing sugar and vanilla. (The hand-held mixer make short work of this.)
13. When cool, inspect your cakes and decide which is prettiest (this will be your top sponge). 
14. Take the other cake and, if it has risen into an extreme point, cut away the pointed part of the cake, so that it is level on top. You can use a cake leveller for this or a bread knife.
15. Spread the top of the lower cake with seedless raspberry jam.
16. Transfer the buttercream to the piping bag and, on top of the jam, pipe star ‘splodges all around the circumference of the cake to make a circle. Then squirt the rest of the buttercream inside the piped circle – no need for neatness for this last step. Use a mini palette knife to spread the buttercream evenly.
17. Slice the strawberries lengthways and place on top of the buttercream making sure the edges can be seen from the outside.
18. Place the second cake on top, domed side uppermost and dust with icing sugar.
19. Decorate with fresh flowers and whole strawberries shortly before serving.

 Tips

• Make sure you use food-safe flowers – ask your florist if you are not sure.
• Use kitchen scissors to snip delicate stems.

• Rest the flowers on top of the cake – never poke the cut stems into the cake.

• Experiment with different types of jams and curds if you want to change things up a bit!