Queen Victoria’s memory lives on in this light-as-air concoction which is dressed with a simple dusting of icing sugar. It may not be trendy but it is divine: not overly sweet but just sweet enough. Like biting into a cloud…
The Hungry Dad, who usually eats cake under duress, actually requests sponge cakes on ocaasions and I’m happy to oblige.
This recipe is via the wonderful tome that is the Australian Women’s Weekly ‘Bake’. As is my wont I reduced the original amount of sugar.
GATHER:
250g softened, diced butter
4 eggs
¾ cup caster sugar
2 cups self raising flour
1/3 milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup strawberry jam
1 tablespoon icing sugar
LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 170C and grease two deep, 20cm round cake tins and line bases with no-stick paper.
Mix butter, caster sugar and vanilla in bowl of electric mixer until very light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, then beat in milk. Stir in sifted flour in two batches.
Divide equally among pans and bake for around 25 minutes. Turn cakes, top side up, onto baking-paper covered wire rack to cool. When cold spread one with jam and sandwich together, sprinkle with icing sugar.
the hungry mum 
You can’t beat a Victoria sponge! This used to be my favourite growing up and my to-go recipe for anyone’s birthday… I used to put vanilla buttercream in the middle and on top too, which was delicious 🙂
It must be said, the Hungry Dad insists on cream which I didn’t add this time. And didn’t I hear about it …
I love a simple, not too sweet cake the best. I have had miserable luck with self-rising flour, so if I switched to all-purpose or even cake flour, I’d need to add some leavening, right? This is my sort of cake!!
Yes, you want it to rise! I’ve only ever used SR flour but you could try sifting together 1 cup of all-purpose flour &
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder instead of SR. Let me know how it goes 🙂