I think a Victoria sponge cake is about as British as it gets with cake – so much that my work lunch buddy even labeled it ‘boring’ when I mentioned that my friend Mark requested one as his birthday cake two years ago. It’s a pretty straight forward affair really – two round sponges, sandwiched together with jam and something creamy (I’ve used whipped cream before as well) and dusted with a bit of icing sugar.
But it’s still tasty – I don’t think anyone turned a slice down when we had this at Mark’s post-hangover birthday coffee. This small scale version is a bit different in that it doesn’t use eggs in the sponge (because I hate having half an egg left over) and is presented as sandwich style slices rather than a round cake. I also stuffed some fresh berries into the jam (because tasty!), but it still works just as well without them.
(Sponge based on this recipe.)
For the sponge
25g (9 1/2 tsp) flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
35g (5 1/2 tsp) condensed milk
10g (2 tsp) butter, melted
Drop of almond or vanilla extract
3 tsp water
For the buttercream
10g (2tsp) butter
15g (1 1/2 tbsp + a tsp) icing sugar
For the jam layer
10g (1 tbsp) jam
4-5 raspberries
Make the sponge:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. In a bowl, mix flour and baking powder.
2. Add condensed milk, melted butter, almond extract and water to the flour mix. Beat well.
3. Pour dough into a greased and floured mini loaf pan (mine is 14.5×7.5cm or 5 3/4×3 in).
4. Bake for 15 minutes until golden and springy to the touch.
5. Leave the cake in the pan for about a minute, then remove and let it cool on a wire rack.
Make the buttercream:
1. Beat the butter until creamy. Slowly beat in icing sugar.
Make the jam layer:
1. Heat jam in microwave for a few seconds and stir.
2. Roughly squash the raspberries and mix into the jam.
To assemble:
1. Trim your sponge into a neat rectangle. Cut it in half vertically, then cut each slice in half horizontally as well.
2. Spread the buttercream onto the two bottom pieces of cake. Top with jam-raspberry mixture.
3. Top with the two left over sponge slices. Dust with icing sugar.