Cakes
Victoria Sponge
This is the cake the very first technical challenge was built on, and the one Jana is going to judge me on first. It is Mary Berry’s all-in-one method: everything into one bowl, mixed until it just comes together, and no more. The jam is made from scratch while the sponges bake, and the buttercream is piped rather than spread, which is the part that separates a neat cake from a homely one.
Based on Mary Berry’s Victoria Sponge from The Great British Bake Off, written out in my own words with the weights I actually use.
Can’t find self-rising flour? Make your own in a minute from all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt.
Recipe by Garrett (Bear)Victoria Sponge
A light all-in-one Victoria sponge with quick raspberry jam and piped vanilla buttercream. The classic British bake, and the tent’s first technical.
Recipe originally written in grams and auto-converted to US cups. Conversions can be slightly off, especially for flour, so weigh when you can.
Ingredients
For the sponge
For the jam
For the buttercream
Equipment
- 2 x 8-inch (20 cm) round cake pans (sandwich tins)
- Parchment (baking) paper
- Electric mixer
- Small, deep saucepan
- Potato masher
- Piping bag with a plain nozzle
- Cooling rack
- Clean tea towel
Method
- Heat the oven and line the pans. Heat the oven. Rub a little butter around the inside of two 8-inch (20 cm) round cake pans and line the bottom of each with a circle of parchment (baking) paper. Oven: 350°F / 180°C (160°C fan)
- Everything in one bowl. Crack the eggs into a large bowl. Add the caster sugar, self-rising flour, baking powder and the soft butter.
- Mix, then stop. Beat until it just comes together into a smooth batter, then stop. Overmixing knocks the air out. Lift the beater: the batter should fall off in a slow, soft blob, what the books call dropping consistency.
- Divide and level. Split the batter evenly between the two pans. Weigh them if you want them identical. Scrape the bowl out with a spatula and gently level the tops.
- Bake. Bake on the middle shelf for 25 minutes. Keep the door shut. Look through the glass at 20 minutes, but do not open it. Oven: 350°F / 180°C (160°C fan)
- Make the jam while they bake. Tip the raspberries into a small, deep saucepan and crush them with a masher. Add the jam sugar and warm over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Turn the heat up and boil hard for 4 minutes. Pour into a shallow dish, leave to cool, then chill until set.
- Check and turn out. The sponges are done when they are golden, pulling away from the sides of the pans, and spring back when pressed. Leave them in the pans for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edge and turn them out onto a cooling rack.
- The tea towel trick. To turn a sponge out without rack marks on the top, lay a clean tea towel over the pan, put your hand on the towel, flip the pan so the cake lands on your hand, then turn it onto the rack top side up. Cool completely.
- Buttercream. Beat the buttercream butter in a large bowl until soft and pale. Beat in half the powdered sugar until smooth, then the rest with one tablespoon of the milk, until creamy. Add the second tablespoon only if it is too stiff to pipe. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle.
- Assemble. Pick the sponge with the better top and set it aside. Put the other one top side down on a plate, spread the jam over it, then pipe the buttercream over the jam. Sit the second sponge on top, top side up, and sprinkle with caster sugar.
Baker's notes
Butter has to be properly soft or the batter will not come together in one bowl. Take it out of the fridge an hour ahead, or cube it and give it ten minutes in a warm kitchen.
Storage + make ahead
Best on the day. Keeps for two days in a tin at room temperature; the jam softens the sponge as it sits.
Substitutions
No jam sugar: use the same amount of granulated sugar plus the juice of half a lemon, and boil a minute or two longer. No raspberries: 6 tbsp of good store-bought raspberry jam, no cooking needed. No self-rising flour: make your own from all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt (see the link above the recipe).
ricottabear.com/victoria-sponge · US measures, metric in brackets
Reviews + questions
Nothing yet. Bake it and be the first to judge, or ask me anything about it.
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Tested in my kitchen, September 22, 2026. Something not right? Tell me above and I will fix it.