Today A-Yueh and Daddy had a baking morning and cooked up a Victoria Sponge cake . . .

After gathering the necessary ingredients, the first step is to grease the tin with a little melted butter and then line it with oven paper.

Greasing the tin with butter and a silicone baking brush
Cutting oven paper to fit the cake tin
Surplus oven paper is also good to make confetti

To make the cake mix, just put all of the sugar, flour, butter, baking powder and eggs in to a large mixing bowl and mix them. If you have small eggs, you may need three instead of two and a little more flour.

Adding the sugar
Adding the flour

… and this is where we got stuck: Daddy hadn’t realised that we did not have any baking powder left - so we made a mid-cook expedition to the shops to buy some more (masks on, COVID tracing app on, shop entry SMS registration, disinfect hands, change in to new clothes, and back to the cake)

Sugar, flour, butter and baking powder all in
In go the eggs

A 1” rolling pin makes a great mixing stick because it’s easy for smaller hands to hold firmly and it doesn’t catch clumps of material like a wooden spoon would. Keep mixing until you have a smooth consistency that easily slides off the mixing stick/spoon. Avoid over mixing.

Starting to mix
Still a bit lumpy
Nice and smooth (but slightly too firm this time as we added a little too much flour)

When you have a smooth mix, pour it out in to the lined cake tin and spread it out evenly. The top will iron itself out in the oven, so you don’t need to smooth the top perfectly.

Scrape all of the mix in to the lined cake tin
Spread the mix out evenly
Oven time (~180°C, ~20 minutes)

To make the cake filling we mixed up some natural yoghurt, honey, and some homemade blueberry, blackberry & raspberry jam. The ratio was roughly 1:1:1 by volume but you can use whatever you prefer for the filling

Lab flask of homemade jam
Yoghurt and honey together
Jam, yoghurt and honey mixed for the cake filling

With a pre-heated 180°C conventional oven the cake will be ready in about 20 minutes. It’s done when it’s golden brown and the sides have come away from the tin. Let it cool for five minutes in the tin before tipping it out.

Bake until golden-brown and coming away from the tin
The clear gap between the cake and the tin when done
Cooling on the rack

Today we made a hemispherical cake by cutting one round piece of sponge in two to form the top and the bottom layer. If you want to make a whole round cake remember to make double the amount of cake mix and use a second cake tin if your oven is large enough to cook them simultaneously. Spread the filling evenly over one piece of sponge, and pop the second piece of sponge on top.

Cut in to halves and one side flipped over
Spreading the filling on the flipped half

There we have it: The finished honey-berry jam Victoria Sponge cake. Of course, it’s chef’s privilege to tidy-up any left over cake filling! Happy Dragon Boat Festival!

Unused filling ... There is never any "unused" filling
A-Yueh's Victoria Sponge

A-Yueh’s cake ingredients:

  • 110g butter
  • 110g flour
  • 110g sugar
  • Two large eggs
  • 1½ teaspoons of baking powder

N.B. This makes one 8” round sponge layer, which we cut in to two to form the top and the bottom of a hemispherical cake. If you want to make a round 360° cake, use double amounts and bake two layers of sponge!

For the filling:

  • Honey
  • Unsweetened yoghurt
  • Fruit jam

Ratio is about 1:1:1 and you only need enough to fill the cake!

Equipment:

  • 8” round cake tin
  • Oven paper
  • Big mixing bowl
  • Mixing spoon (or an inch diameter rolling pin)
  • Cake mix spatula
  • Weighing scales
  • Silicone baking brush (or a bit of oven paper will suffice)