You'd think with all the exciting cake flavours out there, the humble Victoria Sponge would be relegated to the cake archives...buried in the cake graveyard.
You're thinking wrong. As Britain's perennially popular cake, Victoria Sponge is consistently voted as a the nation's favourite, survery after survey.
So where did it come from? How did it get put on this patisserie pedestal? Allow us to take you through the history of the Victoria Sponge.
The cake's name should really be The Royal Victoria Sponge, as its name harks back to Queen Victoria herself, who was said to enjoy a slice of the delicious cake with her traditional English afternoon tea. It is on occasion also referred to The Victoria Sandwich, a reference to the two sponges joined together with fillings.
What is Victoria Sponge?
The Victoria Sponge is a cake, with two sponges made using a mix of sugar, butter, eggs, flour and baking powder. The classic filling is jam and cream.
When was the first Victoria Sponge made?
The first sponge cakes originated in Italy and Spain during the Renaissance era. Italian chefs took their recipes along with them when they were hired by British and French royalty, and the first reference found to sponge cakes in England dates all the way back to 1615. These early cakes were made using equal measures of sugar, butter, flour and the addition of eggs to leaven sponge. However, they were much thinner and not as ‘sponge’ like in texture, making them more like a biscuit.
Cake sponge, in the light and airy form we are familiar with, came about after the invention of baking powder in 1843. The miracle powder, invented by an English food manufacturer called Alfred Bird, helped the cake rise more. This additional leavening allowed for the sponge to include more fat (in the form of butter), therefore creating a richer cake.
The royal chefs in the mid 1800s served Queen Victoria a slice of a sponge sandwich filled with jam, fruit and cream for her afternoon tea. This became known as the Victoria Sponge cake.
Victoria Sponge Ingredients
When it comes to ingredients, whilst the classic Victoria Sponge may seem like a simple cake, the ingredients are often debated by those aiming to create the perfect consistency, crumb and flavour.
Flours - Some bakers use self-raising flour, where baking powder is inbuilt, some use plain flour and then add the baking powder. Some have even been known to use self-raising flour and baking powder, for a double whammy and extra light, fluffy sponge. Another optional ingredient is corn flour, giving the cake a lighter texture.
Fats - The use of butter seems to be universally recognised, except when it comes to the baking Queen herself, Mary Berry, who instead opts, controversially, for margarine. Some bakers, like ourselves, choose to use oil for more moisture in texture. Our Hero Sponge recipe is perfect for the lightest, and fluffiest sponge.
Egg - Eggs are a given, but in what quantities are again a source for debate. The Victoria Sponge purists will even go as far as to weigh their eggs, to ensure consistency and quality. Some have also been known to add an extra yolk with the purpose of creating a golden colour to the sponge. Some bakers choose to use fewer egg yolks to keep the sponge light.
Dairy - Some recipes add a splash of milk, with the intention of making the batter easier to spread in the pans, for a nice even cake. Some will call for yoghurt or buttermilk for a slight tanginess to enhance the flavour.
Another questionable addition is that of vanilla extract, which is often added in varying amounts to flavour the sponge, although not always added by all.
Victoria Sponge Methods
Once you’ve finished debating the choice of ingredients, there is then the issue of the method. Arguably the most traditional method is to cream the butter and the sugar, before adding the eggs one by one (sometimes with a little of the flour), before folding in the dry ingredients. Modern recipes often call for throwing all the ingredients in and using a mixer to create the cake batter.
The finished cake is hugely sensitive when it comes to oven temperature, so much so that some oven manufacturers actually use the cooking of a Victoria Sponge to test their oven's consistency.
As previously touched upon, even when you’ve finally decided on your choice of ingredients and method, you have the issue of how to fill and decorate the sandwich cake. The traditional filling is raspberry jam and cream, however additional fillings have been added over time. One such debatable filling is the choice of buttercream instead of whipped cream. The flavour of jam has moved over time, with some opting for strawberry rather than raspberry. Fresh berries too have often been added in more modern versions. The cake can then be dusted with icing sugar.
The traditional version is only filled in the middle, however more modern versions have taken to decorating the top too (something we’re certainly guilty of, with our super jazzed up version of The Victoria Sponge Cake).
Moving beyond the traditional Victoria Sponge Cake, a number of ‘spin offs’ have occurred. These include cupcakes, as well as adding additional flavourings to the cake mixture in order to create different flavours.
Victoria Sponge's Cultural Influence
The largest Victoria Sponge Cake made in Oxford weighed an impressive 50 stone and was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records. The cake was made from more than 700 eggs and 30 lbs of jam! The massive cake managed to feed over 100 people and needed 9 men to lift it.
The sponge cake has also been credited with inspiring global creations, many of which still exclude the fat. In Latin America, the three-milk cake, or ‘tres leches’ cake, is a sponge (either with or without butter) soaked in three types of milk, as the name suggests. These are condensed milk, cream and evaporated milk. In Italy, ‘pan di Spagna’ (which funnily enough, translates to Spanish Bread) is aversion of the sponge cake. Again, this sponge is made without butter, which makes it lighter, and is the basis for other deserts, such as tiramisu.
Victoria Sponge for Children
A popular book based on this classic cake, Willow and Hugo's Winning Victoria Sponge Cake, is part of my baking book series StoryBakes. It's available to order via the website and Amazon.
There you have it. All this Victoria Sponge chat has made me incredibly hungry for a slice so I'm off to go whip one up.
Image: Trevor Adams
Hope you enjoyed this post or found it useful.
