Victoria Sponge Cake

The countdown to Mother’s day has already begun and here in London the supermarkets and shops are full of mum-related gifts and cards. Mothering Sunday is a celebration traditionally held in the UK on the fourth Sunday of Lent and three weeks before Easter Sunday. To celebrate Mother’s day this year I have prepared a classic Victoria Sponge Cake in collaboration with Waitrose.

Mother’s day is the time to say ‘Thank You’ to our mums and what better way than to say it with homemade cake? There are lots of cake recipes on Waitrose.com such as Lemon drizzle cake and Rhubarb and ginger tart. For me though, classic recipes are always the best!

I have always wanted to make a Victoria Sponge, but never had the chance until now. Victoria sponge is a classic English cake recipe made of fluffy vanilla sponge cake filled with rich buttercream and fruity jam.

The recipe I found on Waitrose.com was is super easy, but I put my own spin on it by adding lemon zest to the cake mix and replacing strawberries with raspberries in the filling.

Afternoon tea time has never tasted so good! Now if only I could bring my mum to London to eat this cake together!

Ingredients

For the sponge

• 250g unsalted butter, softened
• 250g caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 250g self raising flour
• zest of 1 lemon
• 75ml whole milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the filling

• 200g fresh raspberries
• 100-150g good quality raspberry jam
• 200ml double cream
• 1 vanilla pod
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar
• icing sugar, for dusting

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Butter 2 x 20cm round cake tins and line the bases with baking parchment. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric hand whisk until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift in the flour and gently fold in with the milk and vanilla until just combined. The mixture should drop off the end of the spoon when tapped.

Pour the mixture into the tins. Level the tops with the back of the spoon and bake in the centre of the oven for 20-25 minutes until springy to the touch. Allow the cakes to stand in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool.

Cut the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape out all of the seeds. Add them to a bowl with the double cream and caster sugar. Whip the the cream until you have soft peaks.

Carefully wash the raspberries, pat them dry with kitchen paper and dust them with icing sugar. Spread a thick layer of jam over the first cake, then fresh raspberries on top.

Spread the cream over the raspberries and cover it with the other cake. Dust it with icing sugar.

You can store the cake in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-2 days.

Disclaimer: this post was written in collaboration with Waitrose. All opinions are my own.