A Royal Wedding Victoria Sponge Cake

I don't know of a cake that's any more British than the Victoria Sponge cake.  When I first moved to the UK and started visiting cute little coffee shops I noticed the Victoria Sponge cake everywhere.  It jumped out at me for 2 reasons.  Firstly, because I'd never seen it before, and secondly, becasue it wasn't covered in a thick layer of rich buttercream icing like all the cakes were back home.  When I started talking to people about my love of baking I'd often ask them what their favourite cake or dessert was, and Victoria Sponge was the one mentioned most often.  I didn't really get it.  I mean, the Victoria Sponge cake looked rather plain and unimpressive, and I'd seen plenty of other cakes that were more rich and decadent that I'd rather try.  But then I realised something - UK tastes are totally different than North American tastes. Overly sweet things just aren't as popular here.  Sure, they have loads of sweet and delicious desserts here, but the Victoria Sponge cake is considered more of a lighter option.  Something that you could enjoy with a cup of afternoon tea, and that wouldn't leave you feeling overly heavy after you've eaten it. 

I'd always dismissed the "boring" looking Victoria Sponge cake in favour of other sweeter options until one day last summer I gave in and decided to see what all the hype was about.  I was pleasantly surprised.  It was actually really nice, and not overly sweet which left me feeling much lighter than a heavy piece of chocolate cake would have on a hot summer day.

For those of you not familiar with the Victoria Sponge cake it's basically two un-iced vanilla cakes sandwiched together between a layer of buttercream icing (or double cream - which is similar to whipped cream), and a layer of strawberry or raspberry jam.  Pretty simple huh?

The recipe for a Victoria Sponge cake is equally simple, and is probably another reason why this cake is so popular.  Anyone can make it!  

I had originally intended to use the recipe from Royal Wedding cake baker Fiona Cairns' book Bake and Decorate (which I reviewed here), but as I read through the instructions I was a little dubious as they said to basically combine everything in the mixer and beat them until they were well mixed.  I'd always been taught not to beat flour, so I started to research a few other Victoria Sponge recipes.  After looking at at least 6 different recipes from various recipe books and online sources, the main thing I noticed what that the majority of them called for equal amounts of butter, flour and sugar.  In the end I decided to come up with my own recipe, and I was quite pleased with the way it turned out.  Because there is no liquid in the recipe (aside from eggs), the batter will be very thick, so make sure you spread it around the cake pans equally and evenly to ensure you have a nice looking cake.  Remember - you can't fix any mistakes by covering them in a thick coating of buttercream!!  My top layer came out slightly lopsided, never the less it tasted delicious.  I choose to use buttercream icing and strawberry jam as my fillings, and I used castor sugar (granulated sugar in the US) to garnish the top of my cake.

Traditional Victoria Sponge Cake

Ingredients:

3/4 Cup + 2 Tbsp (200g) Castor Sugar

3/4 Cup + 2 Tbsp (200g) Butter, room temperature

4 Eggs

1.5 tsp Vanilla extract

1.5 Cups + 1.5 Tbsp (200g) Self Raising Flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Vanilla Buttercream Icing or Whipped Double Cream - enough to cover the top of 1 cake in a thick layer

1/4 Cup (approx 70g) Strawberry or Raspberry Jam 

Castor Sugar or Icing Sugar to finish (2-4 Tbsp)

Instructions:

1.  Pre-heat oven to 350ºF (175ºC).  Grease (and if you choose - line with parchment) two round 8" (20cm) cake pans.  Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes).

2.  Add in eggs 1 at a time to ensure they don't curdle the butter and sugar mixture.  Beat well before adding each following egg.  Beat in the vanilla extract.

3.  Gently fold in the self raising flour and baking powder into the butter, sugar and egg mixture until just combined.  Don't over mix.  Divide the batter equally between the two pans, making sure that the batter is as flat and even as possible.  Bake for 20 - 25 minutes.

4.  Let cakes cool in their pans at least 1/2 an hour before turning out on a rack to finish cooling. *Make sure that the bottoms of the cakes rest on the rack, and not the tops, otherwise you'll have ugly lines going across the top of your cake!  Once your cakes have fully cooled, coat the top of one of the cakes with a thick layer of buttercream icing or double cream, and then spread your strawberry or raspberry jam over top.  Next, place the second cake on top of the other cake so that the buttercream icing and jam are sandwiched in between the two cakes.  Finally, sprinkle with a generous layer of castor sugar or icing sugar to finish off your cake.  

*If you used buttercream as your filling your Victoria Sponge Cake will keep at room temperature for about 4 days in a sealed container.  If you're using double cream, then store your cake in the fridge so it doesn't spoil, although keeping a cake in the fridge will cause it to go stale faster than if you were to keep it at room temperature.

And since the world is gearing up for the Royal Wedding taking place on Friday April 29th, I thought the Victoria Sponge cake would be a perfect cake to bake in celebration of William and Kate's special day.  Here in the UK we've been lucky enough to be given April 29th off as National holiday, so the majority of UK residents will be off work and out of school.  All sorts of Royal Wedding celebrations will be taking place on April 29th so the public can share in the wedding celebrations.  Street parties and picnics are being organised all across the country, and what better way to celebrate the Royal wedding than to bake and share a Victoria Sponge Cake with your friends and family.  

I made some very simple hanging Union Jack flags (called bunting here in the UK) out of paper and attached them together with some thread (ok - I used mint dental floss!) and then tied them to some bamboo skewers that I then stuck in my cake to decorate it and give it a bit of a celebratory feel.  If you'd like to celebrate the Royal Wedding by decorating your own Victoria Sponge cake with these little flags, I've included a printable PDF below so you can make your own.  ** I've also included 3 additional flags in the PDF incase you'd prefer to celebrate the following 2011 holidays:

St. Georges Day - Saturday April 23rd (England's national day)

Canada Day - Friday July 1st (Canada's Birthday)

Independence Day - Monday July 4th (America's Birthday)

">Flag Bunting

** To download - click the orange download button on the top right hand corner of the PDP preview above.

Simply cut the little flags out and lay them face down on a flat surface.  Take a piece of thread (or in my case dental floss) and lay it across the back of the flags near the top.  Fold the top part of the flag over the thread and fasten with a piece of tape or glue.  When you pick up your thread from both ends each of the flags should be hanging down as shown in my picture above.  Tie each end to a bamboo skewer and insert them into the cake.  Ta Da!!!  A perfect and simple way to decorate your cake - whatever occasion you choose!