Victoria Sandwich

Red jam and cream show between two golden-brown layers of cake. The Victoria sandwich, or Victoria sponge, is a British cake in which a filling is sandwiched between layers of butter cake rather than covered with thick icing. The old formula with equal quantities of ingredients and today’s method of mixing everything at once are both called by the same name, and even the choice of cream and the way it is served have changed. The cake took root at the tea table along with the Queen’s name, and a variety of methods emerged as techniques for making cake batter rise developed.

The old method: matching ingredients to the weight of the eggs, then cutting into strips and stacking

Isabella Beeton’s book of household management, collected into a single volume in 1861, contains a recipe (the proportions of ingredients and the method) for Victoria sandwiches. It uses 4 eggs and their weight each in butter, sugar and flour, with jam or marmalade as the filling. No leavening agent is listed in the ingredients.

It also differs from today’s single round cake in how it was served. The cake was baked in a Yorkshire pudding tin, cooled, layered in two parts, and cut into long, narrow finger shapes. The instructions further say to pile them crosswise in a lattice pattern on a glass dish. The same name as today’s round cake was also used for a different way of serving it.

Beating air into the butter, or mixing everything at once

The formula published by a pastry chef of the British Royal Household in 2020 uses 150 grams each of butter, sugar and self-raising flour, with 3 eggs and vanilla added. The butter and sugar are beaten until light, eggs beaten separately are added a little at a time to prevent curdling, and the flour is mixed in last. This method incorporates air into a batter containing fat and moisture, and also makes use of the leavening agent contained in the flour.

There is also a method of mixing all the ingredients at once. Cook Mary Berry’s “all-in-one” method mixes baking spread, sugar, eggs, self-raising flour and additional baking powder in one bowl until smooth. Although the name is the same, the steps differ from the royal method of adding the eggs gradually. Berry says soft butter can also be used, but she chooses spread for her own recipe.

Jam and cream sandwiched between two cakes

In the royal method, strawberry or raspberry jam and buttercream are sandwiched between the two completely cooled layers. This buttercream is made by combining softened butter with icing sugar and vanilla. It differs in both ingredients and mouthfeel from the white foam of whipped cream.

In Berry’s method, strawberry jam is spread on the underside of one layer and whipped double cream on the other, and the two are joined with the fillings on the inside. Beeton’s old formula sandwiches only jam or marmalade, but today some versions use buttercream or fresh cream.

Besides baking the batter in two tins, the royal method also shows how to bake a single cake and slice it horizontally. The “sandwich” in the name refers to the structure of a filling held between layers of cake. Assembling the cake only after it has cooled thoroughly keeps the layers of jam and cream intact.

A method that adjusts the batter with egg yolks and fills it with roasted strawberries

Pastry chef Nicola Lamb adjusts the formula of four ingredients in equal quantities. She replaces part of the butter with egg yolks and also adds double cream and milk. The butter and sugar are mixed without incorporating too much air, and the egg-and-dairy liquid and the combined flour and leavening are added alternately.

The filling is not jam but strawberries roasted with sugar. They are roasted until they shrink slightly and release syrup, then cooled together with their juices. Very softly whipped cream is spread, leaving 2–3 centimeters free at the edge, and the fruit and juices are placed on it. Sprinkling sugar over the top of one layer before baking is another technique that changes the finished cake.

The development of leavening agents and self-raising flour

The self-raising flour commonly used today has its background in the spread of chemical leavening agents in the 19th century. In Birmingham, Alfred Bird developed a leavening agent in 1843, and in Bristol, Henry Jones obtained a patent for a prepared flour in 1845. Products that combined flour in advance with a system using bicarbonate of soda and an acid to generate carbon dioxide in the batter became widespread. In addition to the air beaten into the eggs and butter, it became possible to make the batter rise through the action of leavening agents.

The legend of the duchess and afternoon tea

As the origin of afternoon tea, the V&A museum introduces the story of Anna, 7th Duchess of Bedford, a friend of the Queen. The story goes that, unable to bear her hunger until the late dinner, she had tea and biscuits or cake brought to her room, and eventually began inviting friends. The museum presents this as a legend and explains that by the end of the 1840s, afternoon tea parties were being held routinely in the royal household as well.

A name honoring Queen Victoria, and today’s tea parties

The British Royal Family explains that the cake is named after Queen Victoria, who enjoyed it with afternoon tea. The 2020 recipe release commemorated the garden parties. Queen Camilla, as the then Duchess of Cornwall, also contributed her own recipe in 2021 to a tea party for “Poetry Together,” in which people of different generations recite poetry together.

The cake bearing the Queen’s name is also made at home and appears at tea tables where people gather today. Its balance of butter, sugar, eggs and flour is shared with pound cake and quatre-quarts, but because fruit or cream is sandwiched between the layers, a single slice lets you enjoy both the butter cake and the flavor of the filling.

Glossary