Victoria sponge
Works in the UK and the US. This version uses UK words and measures (hob, grams, gas marks); the US version uses stove, cups and °F. · US version of this page
The great British sandwich cake: two light sponges by the creaming method, filled with jam.
- Serves 10
- About 1 hr
- Oven
- Best for: KS3 (ages 11–14)
- Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 200 g butter, soft – contains milk
- 200 g caster sugar
- 4 medium eggs – contains eggs
- 200 g self-raising flour – contains gluten
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp milk – contains milk
- 4 tbsp strawberry or raspberry jam
- 1 tbsp icing sugar, to dust
Need a different amount? Use the recipe finder to change the servings.
Equipment
- digital scales
- 2 round sandwich tins (20 cm)
- baking parchment
- mixing bowl
- electric hand mixer or wooden spoon
- sieve
- spatula
- oven gloves
- cooling rack
- palette knife
Safety first
- Wash your hands with soap for at least 20 seconds, tie back long hair and put on a clean apron.
- Ask about allergies before anyone cooks or tastes. This recipe contains: gluten, eggs, milk.
- Wash your hands after cracking eggs.
- Do not eat raw dough or cake mixture – raw flour and raw egg can carry harmful bacteria.
- Use dry oven gloves for anything that has been in the oven or under the grill.
Allergens: Cereals containing gluten, Eggs, Milk. Always read every label and ask about allergies before anyone cooks or tastes.
Method
- Teacher-led: Turn the oven on to 180 °C (160 °C fan, gas 4). Grease and line both tins.
- Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. (4 min)
- Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a spoonful of the flour if it starts to curdle. Wash your hands.
- Sieve in the flour and baking powder and fold in gently with the milk until smooth. Do not taste the raw mixture.
- Teacher-led: Divide between the tins, level the tops and bake until golden and springy, and a skewer comes out clean. (23 min)
- Teacher-led: Cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn out onto the rack and cool completely. (30 min)
- Spread one sponge with jam, put the other on top and dust with icing sugar through a sieve.
What this recipe teaches
Using an oven safely, Creaming (beating butter and sugar), Folding in, Presenting food. Steps marked “Adult” are always done by an adult; steps marked “Teacher-led” are done by an adult for primary-age children and closely supervised for older pupils.
Nutrition per serving
| Energy | 1449 kJ / 346 kcal |
|---|---|
| Fat | 18.4 g |
| of which saturates | 11 g |
| Carbohydrate | 43.7 g |
| of which sugars | 27.7 g |
| Fibre | 0.9 g |
| Protein | 4.3 g |
| Salt | 0.75 g |
Worked out from the raw ingredients (optional ones and pinches not counted) using CoFID 2021 (McCance and Widdowson’s Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset, Public Health England). Brands vary – check labels. Figures for semi-skimmed milk (the recipe finder shows the other choices).
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0: McCance and Widdowson’s The Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset 2021, Public Health England.
Eatwell Guide groups in this recipe: Potatoes, bread, rice, pasta and other starchy carbohydrates; Beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other proteins; Dairy and alternatives. Learn about the Eatwell Guide.
Foods high in fat, salt or sugar sit outside the Eatwell Guide – enjoy them less often and in small amounts.
Curriculum links
- KS3 D&T – Cooking and nutrition: “cook a repertoire of predominantly savoury dishes so that they are able to feed themselves and others a healthy and varied diet”
- KS3 D&T – Cooking and nutrition: “become competent in a range of cooking techniques [for example, selecting and preparing ingredients; using utensils and electrical equipment; applying heat in different ways; using awareness of taste, texture and smell to decide how to season dishes and combine ingredients; adapting and using their own recipes]”
Try the interactive lesson
Step by step: a quick safety check, questions marked by Classfern, timers for each cooking step, then an honest look at how it went – a teacher or parent judges the cooking, and learners rate their own work. Photos of the finished dish stay at home.
Use the code your teacher gave you – never your name. Progress is kept on this device.