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Light-as-air Victoria sponge recipe

Light-as-air Victoria sponge recipe

5 ratings

Created by The Tesco Real Food 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
No self-raising flour? Add 2 tsp baking powder for every 150g plain flour

Each serving contains

  • Energy

    1495kj
    358kcal     18%

  • Fat

    19g 27%

  • Saturates

    11g 57%

  • Sugars

    33g 37%

  • Salt

    0.3g 5%

of the reference intake
Carbohydrate 43.6g Protein 3.2g Fibre 0.7g

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to gas 4, 180°C, fan 160°C. Grease and line 2 x 20cm round sandwich tins with nonstick baking paper.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.

Flavour twists

Lemon and cardamom: 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.

Autumn spiced: 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.

Chocolate and caramel: 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.

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.

See more Baking recipes

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