A Victoria sponge cake is a great British classic and the ideal cake to make if you’re just getting to grips with baking , or you want something that’s quick and easy. If you can whip up this recipe then any other bakes that follow should be a piece of cake, so it’s an ideal place to begin a foray into baking. Celebrity chef, baker and Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood says you can bake a “perfect” Victoria sponge if you measure out one ingredient at the very beginning.
According to Hollywood , weighing the eggs first - in their shells - is the trick to getting a perfectly balanced Victoria sponge cake. The 58-year-old says once you have the weight of the eggs, you can then measure out your caster sugar and flour to match this exactly, giving you the same quantity of each ingredient. As for the margarine, this should be exactly half the weight of your eggs.
Centering your recipe around the eggs will then ensure you have the correct quantities of sugar, flour and margarine to create a perfect sponge. The baking expert also uses a combination of unsalted butter and margarine in his recipe , as he says the combination of both will result in a lighter cake with a rich flavour. Hollywood explains: “Baking is a science.
That’s why, in this recipe , we weigh the eggs first and then adjust the quantities of the other ingredients to get the perfect balance. I like to use half margarine for a lighter texture and half butter for a rich flavour.” A Victoria spon.