Victoria Cake

A classic tea cake with whipped cream and berries.

Printable Version

Servings

12

Prep time:

20 min

Total Time:

1.5 hours plus chill

Good For:

Dessert, Tea

Inroduction

About this Recipe

When you write about Edwardian England as much as I do, you come across a lot of recipes for tea treats. Interestingly, it was for one of my Guideposts mystery novels that I discovered Victoria Cake and fell in love with the simplicity and scrumptious flavors. If there’s anything better than vanilla and berries and whipped cream, I haven’t found it.

Homemade,Victoria,Sponge,Cake,Filled,With,Strawberries,,Jam,And,Whipped

Best of all, you can use ANY jam and fresh berries to make this cake! Strawberry is a classic, but raspberries or blackberries or blueberries would all work just as well. Get creative and try it with orange marmalade, lemon curd, or turn it into a vanilla black forest cake with cherry pie filling. The possibilities are endless! (And delicious.)

Ingredients

Instructions

INGREDIENTS

2 ½ sticks butter at room temperature
1 ¼ cups superfine sugar
6 eggs, beaten
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
a pinch of salt
raspberry or strawberry jam for filling
heavy whipping cream for filling
confectioner’s sugar for the top of the cake
fresh berries for garnish, if desired

INSTRUCTIONS

TO MAKE THE CAKE:

Preheat oven to 350. Line the bottoms of two 8” round pans with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pans and set aside.
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Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
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Add about one third of the beaten eggs, and mix well at medium speed. Then add about a third of the sifted flour. Repeat this step. Add the rest of the eggs and mix well, then turn the mixer to low and add the final flour and mix until just combined.
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Using a scale, divide the mixture evenly between the two pans and bake for about 35 minutes.
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Once you can smell the cake and it looks done through the oven door, open the oven and carefully check with a toothpick inserted in the middle (cake falls easily, so only test when you’re confident it’s close!). When the cake is done, remove them from the oven and allow to cool completely.
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To remove: place a cooling rack over the top of the cake and flip it over quickly. Remove the tin and the parchment paper and allow to cool completely before filling.

ASSEMBLY:

Beat the cream until it’s thick enough to fill the cake and support the next layer.
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Using a cake slicer, place the cake layers, flat side down on the counter and slice off the top to make them even. (Save or freeze the leftover cake to trifles or cake pops!)
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Place one layer, cut side up, on a serving plate and spread a generous amount of the jam on top.
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Next, spread the cream over the jam. Leave about an inch between the cream and the edge, as it will squish out. Top with the second layer, cut side down.
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Dust with confectioner’s sugar and chill for an hour or two. Top with fresh berries, if desired.

Printable Version

From the Books

Victoria Cake is served in A Royal Tea, and this same recipe is included in the back of the book. Gemma is also enjoying a slice in A Noble Scheme, book 2 in the Imposters series. And you can bet that Mrs. Dawe served it aplenty at tea time in the Secrets of the Isles books!