Cooking for Beginners recipes, structured

Victoria Sponge

Equal weights of butter, sugar, egg and flour, creamed properly and baked in two tins so neither layer needs levelling.

Prep
25m
Cook
25m
Waiting
1h 10m
Total
2h
Serves
8
Effort
Moderate
Scale
8
Units

Method

Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.

225 g Cream the butter and sugar for a full 5 minutes 6m Pale, almost white, and visibly increased in volume. Beat in the eggs one at a time 5m If it looks curdled, a spoonful of the flour brings it back. Fold in the flour in three additions 4m A large metal spoon and a cutting motion. Beating now knocks the air straight out. Bake at 180°C / 350°F for 25 minutes until the centre springs back 25m Do not open the door before 20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in the tins, then turn out and cool completely 1h 10m Sandwich with jam and cream, then dust with icing sugar 8m Jam on the bottom layer, cream on top of it. The other way round and the jam soaks in.
225 g
4
1 tsp
225 g
1 tsp
2 tbsp
6 tbsp
200 g
1 tsp
Read left to right: ingredients merge into steps, and the rightmost cell is the last thing you do. Steps account for 1h 58m of hands-on and cooking time.

  1. Cream the butter and sugar for a full 5 minutes

    6m
    • unsalted butter 225 g
    • caster sugar 225 g

    Pale, almost white, and visibly increased in volume.

  2. Beat in the eggs one at a time

    5m
    • from 1 Cream the butter and sugar for a full 5 minutes
    • eggs 4
    • vanilla extract 1 tsp

    If it looks curdled, a spoonful of the flour brings it back.

  3. Fold in the flour in three additions

    4m
    • from 2 Beat in the eggs one at a time
    • self-raising flour 225 g
    • baking powder 1 tsp
    • whole milk 2 tbsp

    A large metal spoon and a cutting motion. Beating now knocks the air straight out.

  4. Bake at 180°C / 350°F for 25 minutes until the centre springs back

    25m
    • from 3 Fold in the flour in three additions

    Do not open the door before 20 minutes.

  5. Cool 10 minutes in the tins, then turn out and cool completely

    1h 10m
    • from 4 Bake at 180°C / 350°F for 25 minutes until the centre springs back

  6. Sandwich with jam and cream, then dust with icing sugar

    8m
    • from 5 Cool 10 minutes in the tins, then turn out and cool completely
    • raspberry jam 6 tbsp
    • double cream 200 g
    • icing sugar 1 tsp

    Jam on the bottom layer, cream on top of it. The other way round and the jam soaks in.

Creaming is mechanical aeration

Sugar crystals have sharp edges. Dragged through soft butter by a beater, they tear thousands of tiny air pockets into the fat and the butter’s own emulsifiers hold them there. Those pockets are the only bubbles the cake will ever have — baking powder does not create new ones, it inflates what is already present. That is why five minutes of creaming and properly soft butter matter more than anything else here, and why fridge-cold butter gives a dense, close sponge.

Notes

  • Weigh the eggs and match the butter, sugar and flour to them. Four large eggs land near 225 g.
  • Cold eggs split the emulsion. Sit them in warm water for five minutes if you forgot.
  • Fill and eat the same day. Sponge staling is starch recrystallising and the fridge speeds it up.

Try butter, 30 minutes, braise, or an ingredient you need to use up.