Victoria Sponge Upgrade
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Cuisine: British
Category: Cakes
Victoria Sponge recipes don’t work that well. This is a 37% improvement.
Check out the video from Tim below. You'll see that the first method shows that when the butter and sugar are creamed together and the egg added gradually. The mix splits at about 75% of the egg added.
By adding a little but of flour as you add the egg will keep the batter smooth but this only hides that the liquid is not emulsified with the fat.
The all-in-one methods makes a similar sponge too - just with a denser texture.
The trick to this is to keep whisking continuously until the eggs, melted butter and sugar are combined.
Note - this isn’t a Genoese Sponge. Genoese usually has much less butter than Victoria Sponge has (by weight of flour, maybe 20%). Genoese is made by whisking eggs and sugar over heat before adding butter. If you follow a Genoese method using Victoria Sponge ingredient weights, then the batter splits.
TOP TIP
Add all ingredients at room temperature and scrape down in-between each step.
Ingredients
Ingredients for 2 x 20cm spongse
4 Medium Eggs
200g Unsalted Butter
200g Caster Sugar
200g Plain flour
11g Baking Powder (5.5% of the weight of the flour)
4 Medium Eggs
200g Unsalted Butter
200g Caster Sugar
200g Plain flour
11g Baking Powder (5.5% of the weight of the flour)
Method
- Eggs whisked alone for 3 minutes until thick and foamy.
- Melt the butter whilst eggs whisk and then pour the butter in over 2 minutes in a thin stream, whilst continuing to whisk.
- Add caster sugar whilst still whisking over a minute and until the mixture thickens slightly and the whisk leaves a trail.
- Sift flour and baking powder over egg/butter/sugar foam and fold in quickly. I don’t usually sift flour but it’s helpful here as the foam is delicate and clumps form more easily.
- Divide the batter between two 20cm diameter tins with their bases lined with baking/greaseproof or silicone paper.
- Bake at 170°C Fan for 20 minutes (or until evenly browned and set). Allow to cool and fill with your choice of filling, Tim used buttercream and jam.