Victoria Sponge Cupcakes Recipe | My Baking Addiction (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret of sponge cake? ›

If the butter is too cold, it takes too long to incorporate into the sugar and eggs and can cause over-mixing, which in turn means a heavy cake.

It should give a light, soft cake with a fine crumb. Milk is added just to give the cake batter a soft "dropping" consistency and doesn't usually particulalry affect the texture of the cake in such small quantities.

Why do cakes not rise? A: No or insufficient raising agent, mixture too stiff, mixture overbeaten or air knocked out, or insufficient whisking (whisked sponge). Too cool an oven.

Make sure your butter is extremely soft (but not melted). The butter will bond more easily with the sugar allowing for extra air bubbles when you beat it. Fresh, room temperature eggs hold more air than old or fridge cold ones, so this will give you a head start on creating a lighter sponge.

The key to a good sponge is a thorough beating. The aim is to get as much air in as possible to create a light and airy sponge.

The key to an airy sponge, is... well air! In each stage of the sponge making process you need to add as much airiness as you can. Once your flour is measured, hold the sieve a few inches above your mixing bowl, pour the flour into the sieve and gently sift away, this will ensure a light sponge once baked.

The addition of baking powder allows the cake to have more butter and thus create a richer cake. Prior to this, cakes were made using equal measures of sugar, butter, flour and the addition of eggs to leaven sponge which made them less of a sponge and more of a biscuit.

You can also decrease the baking temperature by 10 or so degrees and increase the baking time. Just like when you bake a pumpkin pie and go low and slow for an uncracked surface, baking cakes at a lower temperature gives a more even rise.

Why is my Victoria sponge soggy in the middle? ›

Adjusting the cooking time and temperature

If your cake has a soggy middle, the first thing to try is bringing the temperature down a little and baking for slightly longer. I'd suggest reducing the temperature by 20 degrees and increasing the baking time for 7 minutes.

A wobbly or firm middle that doesn't bounce back is a sign that the cake needs more baking time. When you insert a thin skewer in the cake, it should come out clean (or with a few dry crumbs). If you pull it out and wet cake mixture has stuck to the skewer, it means the cake has not finished baking completely.

- Lower the temperature and cook for longer: This is one of the easiest solutions. Lower the temperature by around 10-20°C and increase the baking time slightly. This will make sure the cake tin doesn't heat up too quickly.

Overbeating, Overmixing, or Undermixing Your Cake Batter

Too much air and your cake will collapse because it simply can't hold onto all that air.

Something like those bubbles and flat cakes are a characteristic of wrong consistency and a thick batter. It'll be better to avoid too much of butter and go with buttermilk instead. Also make sure too much of baking soda is not added so that the cake does not end up being crisp. Check for the oven temperature.

Over mixing acts on the gluten in flour and will make cakes hard instead of the lovely soft spongy texture we associate with a good cake. Insufficient creaming of sugar and eggs will also make a tight texture because there isn't enough air trapped in the mix to give it a lift.

Technically any recipe that contains no baking powder or baking soda, but lots of whipped eggs or egg whites is a sponge cake. A traditional sponge cake has just three ingredients: flour, sugar, and eggs. As the name suggests, this cake takes well to being soaked with syrups.