How to Make Victoria Sponge Cake, an Easy British Dessert Fit for a Queen

In 1840, Anna Maria Russell, one of Queen Victoria’s ladies in waiting and the seventh Duchess of Bedford, reportedly experienced “a sinking feeling” during the long hours between lunch and dinner. The cure? A cup of tea, some sandwiches, and a slice of cake—a light meal now referred to as afternoon tea. Like the Duchess, I also experience a sinking feeling in the afternoons; when I lived and studied in the UK, my friends and I frequently scurried off from the school  library in search of tea and cake or scones in the afternoons. We often sat down to slices of Victoria sponge, a classic British dessert and afternoon tea standby that consists of strawberry jam and whipped cream between two tender sponge cakes lightly dusted with powdered sugar. Though I no longer live in Britain, the cake is still one of my favorite desserts, and one I often make for friends and family for tea time or an after-dinner treat.

A Brief History of Victoria Sponge

Also known as the Victoria sandwich, the cake is named after Queen Victoria, who reportedly enjoyed the dessert daily as part of her afternoon tea, according to Buckingham Palace, among other sources. Alysa Levine, author of Cake: A Slice of History, notes that the Victoria sponge has its roots in pound cake, or what the French call “quatre quarts.” Meaning “four fourths,” the name refers to the equal parts of butter, flour, sugar, and eggs used to prepare classic pound cake. Pound cake took off in the 18th century, when trade and industrialization meant that wealthy Victorians had access to refined white flour and granulated sugar. Chemist Alfred Bird’s invention of baking powder in 1843, along with the increasing popularity of the whisk, made it much easier for cooks to whip up airier cakes.

Though most iterations of Victoria sponge today have a layer of whipped cream and strawberry jam, there was no whipped cream in the earliest versions of the dessert. A recipe for Victoria sponge in Matilda Marian Pullan’s 1854 The Modern Housewife’s Receipt Book calls for apricot or raspberry jam as a filling, while Isabella Mary Beeton’s 1867 The Englishwoman’s Cookery Book instructs cooks to use “any kind of jam or marmalade.”

It wasn’t until the late 1900s that whipped cream started appearing in recipes with regularity; even more unclear is when strawberry jam—and not other fruit preserves—became the standard filling for the cake. Today, the Victoria sponge remains popular in Britain, where it’s so beloved that many consider it “more than a cake” and “an emblem of national identity,” Levine writes.

Today's Victoria Sponge

Many bakers put their own spin on the cake: In her book Love Is a Pink Cake, pastry chef Claire Ptak prepares her Victoria sponge with brown sugar, which yields a moister cake. (At her Dalston, London bakery Violet Cakes, Ptak offers a more traditional cake made with granulated sugar; she fills the cake with raspberry jam and whipped cream and dusts the cake with confectioners' sugar and raspberry powder.) Fortnum and Mason, the British department store that dates back to the 18th century, offers their Victoria sponge with fresh strawberries atop whipped cream. And at Peggy Porschen, another London bakery, the Victoria sponge is sandwiched with a strawberry and elderflower purée and frosted with a lemon and vanilla buttercream. 

Like those bakers, I’ve put a slight twist on the dessert. The pound cake–like sponge of a classic Victoria sandwich is often too heavy for my liking, and the strawberry jam a touch too sweet. So in my recipe below, I’ve opted for hot milk cake, a fluffy sponge with just enough heft and structure to carry the jam and whipped cream. Seasoning the jam with fresh lemon juice brings necessary acidity, while lightly salting the whipped cream balances out the entire dessert and prevents it from being cloying. I also brush the cake with a lemon simple syrup, which keeps it moist. Is it the most traditional Victoria sponge? Perhaps not. But it is my ideal version. Here’s how to make it.

5 Tips for Making the Best Victoria Sponge

Line your cake pans with parchment, then grease and flour your pans. To prevent your cake from sticking to the bottom of the pan, I recommend lining the bottom with parchment paper. Greasing the paper and sides of the pan with butter and lightly dusting the pans with flour creates a barrier that prevents the fat from melting directly into the cake batter, while also making it easy to turn out once it’s cooled.

Use a hot milk sponge cake. Unlike cakes that are made by beating room temperature butter and sugar together, the hot milk cake comes together by whisking whole eggs until pale and doubled in volume, pouring in milk and fat (typically butter), then gently incorporating the dry ingredients. It’s easier and faster to prepare than a traditional butter cake, and is just as (if not more…) delicious. The cake gets loft from whipped whole eggs—which traps air bubbles that expand as the batter bakes—and tenderness from the milk and liquid fat that coats the flour.

In my recipe below, I call for a neutral oil. Unlike butter, which typically contains 80 to 82% butterfat, oil is 100% fat. In doughs and batters, fats coat the gluten proteins glutenin and gliadin, limiting gluten development. Because oil is 100% fat, it more effectively coats those proteins, making a lighter, fluffier cake.

Brush the cake with simple syrup. One of the best ways to prevent cake from drying out is to brush it with simple syrup, a trick I learned as a pastry cook. Many simple syrups I learned to make had a one to one ratio of water to sugar, but that often produces a thicker syrup that’s much too sweet paired with an already sweet cake. Here, I use two parts water to one part sugar, with an additional tablespoon of fresh lemon juice to add brightness. You want to brush just enough syrup on the cake to help moisten it, but avoid soaking the cake completely, as that will result in a soggy crumb.

Season the strawberry jam with lemon juice. A tablespoon of lemon juice adds acidity to the jam; this prevents the jam from being excessively sweet and also helps highlight the flavor of the fruit.

Lightly salt the whipped cream. Is it really necessary to salt whipped cream? No. But is seasoned whipped cream more delicious? Absolutely. As with just about every other food, both savory and sweet, a touch of salt helps round out and enhance the flavor of the whipped cream and the whole dessert.