A Victoria sponge cake is a classic British cake best eaten with a cup of tea, and it is incredibly easy to make yourself if you use the proper ingredients. Katalin Nagy, a baker and founder of Spatula Desserts , has shared that the best way to make a Victoria sponge is to ditch butter and make it with oil instead. She said: “The biggest disappointment I often have with traditional butter-based cakes is that they tend to firm up in the fridge and I like my cake soft and tender.
The oil not only adds moisture to the cake, but it coats the flour which prevents gluten formation therefore the cake will get super tender even straight out of the fridge, how cool is that?” Using butter or oil in cakes depends on your preference but oil will give the cake a much fluffier texture as it retains more moisture. Oil is easier to incorporate into the batter which makes baking with it a lot quicker and will also help keep a cake fresh longer. It tends to be better to use oil if you are baking a cake to give to someone as a gift, but if you are making a tall cake that needs a lot of structure, such as a wedding cake, it is better to use butter.
However, this incredibly tasty Victoria sponge also does not have any baking powder or baking soda as it uses eggs to help it have a even lighter and airer texture. Katalin said: “Believe me, if you beat your egg yolk for a minimum of eight [to] 10 minutes until very pale and fluffy, and in the meantime beat your egg white separately until shiny.
