Light-as-air Victoria sponge recipe
Created by The Tesco Recipes team
Master the classic Victoria sponge with our ultimate recipe. We use a little cornflour in the batter to get the cake wonderfully light and airy. Once you've perfected the basics, why not try one of our delicious flavour twists? See below for a few ideas.
See method- Serves 16
- Takes 55 mins plus cooling
- 358 calories / serving
- Freezable
- Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 225g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
- 225g caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 200g self-raising flour
- 25g cornflour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 60ml milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the filling and decoration
- 100g butter, softened
- 200g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
- 1-2 tbsp milk
- 150g raspberry jam
Each serving contains
- Energy
- 1495kJ 358.0kcal
- Fat
- 19g
- Saturates
- 11g
- Salt
- 0.3g
- Sugars
- 33g
of the Reference intake
Carbohydrate 43.6gProtein 3.2gFibre 0.7g
Method
- Preheat the oven to gas 4, 180°C, fan 160°C. Grease and line 2 x 20cm round sandwich tins with nonstick baking paper.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric whisk until very pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, adding 1 tbsp flour with each one, mixing between each addition, until combined. Gently fold in the remaining flour, the cornflour, baking powder and a pinch of salt until no white streaks remain; stir in the milk and vanilla extract.
- Divide the mix between the tins, level the tops, then make a slight indent in the centres. Bake for 25-30 mins until risen and golden, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tins for 15 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- To decorate, whisk the butter and icing sugar together until pale, thick and fluffy. Whisk in a little milk to loosen; the buttercream should be spreadable but still hold its shape.
- Transfer one of the sponges to a serving plate. Using a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle, pipe small rounds of buttercream over the sponge, then dot over the jam to fill the gaps in between; sandwich with the second sponge. Alternatively, swirl over the buttercream with the back of a spoon, then spoon the jam into the centre; sandwich with the second sponge. Finish with a dusting of icing sugar.
- Rub the zest of 1 lemon into the sugar before beating with the butter in step 2. Swap the milk for the juice of 1 lemon (made up to 60ml with milk), and stir in the crushed seeds of 6 cardamom pods with the flour. Use lemon juice instead of milk for the buttercream and fill with lemon curd instead of jam.
- Swap the caster sugar for 150g light brown soft sugar and 75g dark brown soft sugar. Stir in 1 tsp ground cinnamon and ½ tsp each ground ginger and allspice along with the flour and use apple juice instead of milk. Fill with plum jam.
- : Replace the caster sugar with light brown soft sugar and swap out 4 tbsp self-raising flour for cocoa powder. Whisk 100g smooth caramelised biscuit spread into the buttercream, and swap the jam for salted caramel sauce.
- See more Baking recipes
Freezing and defrosting guidelines
Freeze undecorated sponges. In order to enjoy optimum flavour and quality, frozen items are best used within 3 months of their freezing date. For more tips on freezing and defrosting food, read our article Love Your Freezer.
