GLUTEN-FREE VICTORIA SANDWICH CAKE
Ingredients
- 285 g Stork for baking (tub)
- 335 g caster sugar
- 5 large eggs
- 350 g Magical Gluten-free Plain Flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 50 ml milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract (not essence)
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 180c /160c fan and grease and bottom line two 8" round cake tins (not sandwich tins as they will be too shallow).
- Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
- Weigh the Stork into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat for two minutes.
- Add in the caster sugar and vanilla extract and beat for a further three minutes.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, each with 1tbsp (heaped) of the flour mix you sifted earlier. Beat between each addition.
- Add the remaining flour and beat until smooth.
- Finally, add the milk and beat to combine.
- Divide your cake batter between the two tins, smoothing the tops. Bake for around 30mins (it may take a few minutes more or less depending on how true to temperature your oven runs) until the tops are golden and spring back when pressed.
- Leave the cakes in the tins for 10mins then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the cake is cooling, whip 250ml of double cream until thick and spreadable. Set aside.
- When your cakes are cold, place one layer of it on a plate or cake stand and spread liberally with your favourite flavour of jam (I always use blackcurrant).
- With the side of the second layer that was face down on the wire racking facing upwards, spread the double cream all over the cake. (You want it this way up so that you have the smooth base of the cake facing upwards when stacked.)
- Carefully lift this layer up and flip it over and down on top of the jammy layer on your plate/cake stand.
- Liberally dust the top of your cake with icing sugar, pop the kettle on and get stuck in!xx Millie, Marcus, Milo, Maddy and Me xx
THE ORIGINS OF THE VICTORIA SANDWICH CAKE
I would like to tell you that the Victoria sandwich cake was named in my honour. But that would be a hoofing great lie. And anyway, the cake has been around for a very long time and while I’m old, I’m not *that* old!
The Victoria sandwich cake (which you may also hear being called a Victoria sponge) is actually named after Queen Victoria. She was rather partial to a bit of tea and cake of an afternoon (a woman of exceptional taste, clearly).
The Victoria sandwich cake is traditionally baked with fat, sugar, flour and eggs in two layers. These layers are then sandwiched together with jam and freshly whipped cream and finished with a light dusting of icing sugar. Simple, elegant, light and delicate, it is a truly delicious cake.
A GOOD CAKE RECIPE
Having a good Victoria sandwich cake recipe in your repertoire is essential for the budding home baker. If you’re just starting out on your home baking journey, you can’t go wrong with mastering a good Victoria sandwich cake recipe!
So can you still bake and enjoy a Victoria sandwich cake when you are following a gluten-free diet? You bet you can!
A GREAT TASTE(ING) GLUTEN-FREE VICTORIA SANDWICH CAKE RECIPE
My gluten-free Victoria sandwich cake recipe is the recipe I used when I was developing my gluten-free flour blend. By keeping the cake recipe constant (and picking a classic, no-place-to-hide recipe), I was able to see the effects that different flours had on the end bake – both good and bad. And it’s how I eventually settled on the mix and quantities of flours in my Magical Gluten-Free Plain Flour Blend.
And when a set of Great Taste Awards judges describe your gluten-free Victoria sandwich cake as every inch as good as a ‘standard’ (gluteny) recipe…yeah, that’s a pretty special moment in my gluten-free baking career 😍
You can probably now see why this recipe is so special to me. I hope when you bake it that it makes you every inch as happy as it makes me every time I bake it (and, of course, eat it, too!) I’m delighted to be sharing it with you 💕
