I have been making Victoria sponge cakes since I was 6yrs old. I have wonderful memories of making my Mum a birthday cake in my Grandmothers old kitchen. I have adapted the recipe slightly to fit with a dairy free diet but it is based on that good old recipe I’ve had drummed into my head for over 25yrs.
For this recipe a soft butter substitute is best as it will give a light and fluffy result. My favourite is Pure sunflower spread, as it gives a really light sponge, however, if you don’t plan on eating it the same day, it goes stale quickly, so opt for something like Vitalite instead as it will stay fresh for longer.
Ingredients
8oz soft spread
8oz sugar
3 duck eggs
8oz self raising flour
1tsp vanilla extract
1 Portion of dairy free vanilla butter cream (recipe here)
I find using duck eggs help to add some of the creamy flavour that can be lacking when using dairy free products. If however, you can’t get hold of duck eggs, don’t panic, and just use 4 medium hens’ eggs instead.
Method
Preheat oven to 180⁰C
Grease two sandwich tins and line the bottom with baking paper
Cream the spread and sugar together until it is light and fluffy
Add the eggs one at a time and beat into the mix. If you find the mix starts to curdle a bit, just add a little bit of the pre-measured flour and beat till it comes together again.
Add the remaining flour a bit at a time, and mix till everything has come together.
Add 1tsp of vanilla extract for flavour and mix through
Separate the mix evenly into the two, pre prepared sandwich tins. Smooth the surface with a knife.
Bake in the oven for about 25mins.
You can tell the sponge is ready when it bounces back when you lightly press the top. Also the sides of the sponge will be just starting to come away from the edge of the tin. If you put a cake tester in, it will come out clean.
Turn out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
On one half spread vanilla butter cream. On the other half spread strawberry jam.
Sandwich the cakes together, then decorate with a sprinkling of icing sugar and some fresh strawberries.
Variations
Like with many of my other recipes, this is designed as a basic recipe and you can add your own changes to suit you.
Lemon cake
Use lemon zest to flavour the sponge as opposed to the vanilla extract.
When sandwiching the cake together, use lemon curd and lemon flavoured dairy free butter cream.
Chocolate cake
For this variation, mix a tablespoon of cocoa powder with just enough water to form a paste. Mix this into the sponge recipe instead of adding vanilla extract.
For an icing, add a tablespoon of cocoa powder to 4oz of icing sugar, then mix with water as usual.
Coffee Cake
To make a coffee flavoured cake, I just use instant coffee. 1tsp of instant coffee mixed in just enough boiling water to make a smooth paste. Then mix this into the cake mix in place of the vanilla extract.
Add the same mixture to the dairy free butter cream and leave out the jam.
To decorate, I like to put the butter cream on top of the cake as well as in between the layers, then sprinkle with cocoa.
Once you have tried the basic recipe, you can change it very easily to make lots of different flavours. Let me know in the comments below what flavours have worked well for you.