Victoria Sandwich: A Wholemeal Take on the Nation’s Favourite Cake
A wholemeal version of the nation’s favourite sponge cake. This wholemeal Victoria sandwich is filled with homemade strawberry jam.
Everyone loves a Victoria Sandwich, it’s the nation’s favourite cake. But I have a confession to make. In all my years of baking I’d never made one before, well not a classic one anyway. Until my farewell party that is.
Victoria Sponge
I’ve always called a Victoria sponge cake a Victoria sandwich, but whatever you care to call it, it’s a stalwart of a good British afternoon tea. Opinions differ as to whether this cake was originally made for Queen Victoria or as a tea time cake for the nursery, but there’s no doubt that the good Queen had a very sweet tooth and was very fond of cake.
Originally the cake would have been filled with jam only. Purists reckon it has to be raspberry or strawberry. These days it can hold cream as well, or even buttercream. It’s also meant to be dusted with caster sugar, but in the general rush and chaos of moving, I used icing sugar instead. How do you prefer yours?
Farewell Party
Before leaving Liskeard, my wonderful mother decided the occasion should be marked. She hosted an afternoon garden party and all I had to do was invite a few friends and pray for sunshine.
The day dawned fair and unusually for August this year, it remained sunny all day – phew! My aunt came down to help with the food and we all enjoyed a massive spread. My only contribution was this Victoria sponge. It’s my mother’s favourite cake and I really ought to have made one for her years ago.
Wholemeal Victoria Sandwich
I made my Victoria sandwich the traditional way by weighing the eggs first and then adding the same weight of flour, sugar and butter. Less traditionally, I added a little kefir to help with the rise as I was using wholemeal flour.
It’s the bran that hinders the rise. So I sieved the flour and threw the bran that was left in the sieve into the compost bin. However, I used a fairly wide gauge sieve so most of the bran got through.
I was tempted to stuff my sponge with strawberries and cream, but keeping with tradition, I sandwiched it with homemade strawberry jam and nothing else. It was light and thoroughly delicious – or that’s what everyone told me anyway.
Victoria Sponge Top Tip
You may have noticed the lines on the top of the cake. These are not intentional. If you turn out a warm victoria sponge onto a wire rack, it will leave its indentations for all to see. What you are meant to do is to cover the wire rack with a tea towel to prevent this from happening. I didn’t do this and really should have done. Learn from my mistakes.
Other Victoria Sandwich Recipes You Might Like
Of course, when I said I’d never made a Victoria sandwich before, that wasn’t quite true. What I actually meant was that I’d never made a straightforward plain one before. One without any bells and whistles. Here are the takes I’ve made on this classic British bake.
- Chocolate Victoria sandwich with lime curd
- Fig & chocolate Victoria sponge
- Hot chocolate Victoria sandwich with vanilla apricots & cream
- Mini blood orange sponge cakes
- Rose & strawberry Victoria sponge
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this wholemeal Victoria sandwich sponge cake, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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If you’d like more sandwich cake recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious, of course.
Choclette x
Wholemeal Victoria Sandwich. PIN IT.
Victoria Sandwich
Ingredients
- 275 g unsalted butter softened
- 275 g golden caster sugar (I used vanilla sugar)
- 4 eggs
- 275 g wholemeal flour (whole wheat) largest bits of bran sieved out
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp kefir, buttermilk, sour milk or watered down yoghurt
- 8 tbsp strawberry jam homemade if possible
- icing sugar or caster sugar for dusting
Instructions
- First weigh the eggs in their shells, then weigh equal amounts of butter, sugar and flour.4 eggs
- Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.275 g unsalted butter, 275 g golden caster sugar
- Beat in the eggs one by one. If the mixture starts to curdle, add a spoonful of flour.
- Sieve the flour and baking powder and throw any bran remaining in the sieve into the compost bin.275 g wholemeal flour (whole wheat), 2 tsp baking powder
- Gently stir the flour into the sponge mixture, followed by the kefir until everything is just combined.2 tbsp kefir, buttermilk, sour milk or watered down yoghurt
- Divide the mixture between two 22cm round silicone moulds or lined baking tins and bake at 180℃ (350℉, Gas 4) for 30 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Leave in the moulds to cool for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Sandwich the cakes with strawberry jam, then dust with icing sugar or caster sugar and serve.8 tbsp strawberry jam, icing sugar
I think you can make an incredibly light sponge without getting rid of any of the bran
There is a wonderful recipe in Geraldine Holt’s ‘Cakes’ for wholemeal sponge cake.
In that recipe you split the eggs and beat the eggs whites until stiff and fold those into the yolk, muscovado sugar (which have also been beaten separately until thick and glossy.
Then fold in the eggs whites gently.
Finally sieve the wholemeal flour gently over the mixture and fold in.
Then into a tin and bake.
This produces a lovely light wholemeal sponge cake. The only leavening is the egg whites (no baking powder) and all of the bran is used. It has no impact on the final product.
It’s very true Martin. I rarely sieve out the bran in my bakes and still produce a lot of light sponges. But I know it puts some people off if they’re new to wholemeal baking.
Well….. for a first VS, it looks pretty perfect! Jam and no cream is absolutely how it should be.
Sounds like you had a lovely send off too xxx
Thanks Kate. I’m not sure about perfection, but it was jolly delicious and seemed to be much appreciated.
I’m a huge fan of classic Victoria Sandwich cakes (and yeah, I call them sandwich too rather than sponge). They’re such a classic, and for very good reason. I must admit that I’ve always made ours with white flour, so am fascinated to taste how they are with wholemeal & kefir. Thankyou too for joining in with #BakingCrumbs Chocolate 🙂
Angeaal x
I don’t think there’s enough kefir involved to make much difference to the flavour, but it does help with the rise. Wholemeal flour gives a certain nutty quality which I really like.
I’ve never thought of a wholemeal victoria sponge before, and it looks great! Personally I like mine with raspberry jam, or if I’m feeling a bit extravagant – fresh strawberries and whipped cream! haha x
Fresh strawberries and whipped cream will always get my vote Cat 😀
*gulp* This might be the first Victorian sponge you made but I don’t think I’ve even ever eaten it! That said, wholemeal is the way to go to help alleviate the guilt. Best of luck with your new adventure!
Thanks Michelle. I’m reeling in shock here that you’ve never had a piece of Victoria sponge. How is that even possible?
Beautiful! I’m surprised you haven’t ever made one before! I pretty much love Victoria sponges in all varieties, but a fresh one filled with only jam and topped with a dusting of icing sugar is rather lovely.
Hi Jo. It’s good to hear from you. I’m a bit surprised I’ve never made one before either.
I love the idea of wholemeal flour being used. I bet the final taste was a little more nutty and rather delicious!
Thanks Sisley. You got it exactly. I don’t really understand why more people don’t use wholemeal.
I’m definitely not with the purists who say jam only — I love mine with cream as well as jam, and I like the sponge to have some moistness to it too!
I think I’m with you Kavey. This one was very nice, but I generally prefer a cake that has a bit more to it.
Such an appetizing recipe, Choclette! Is there any alternative to kefir?
Thanks Agness. You don’t need to use kefir, it just helps a bit with the rise. Buttermilk or a bit of watered down yoghurt would work well too. Otherwise use milk.
What an incredibly beautiful sponge cake! I need to try this recipe out as soon as possible! Looks so delicious and tasty! Thanks for the share, love checking out your blog for recipe ideas.
Thanks Laura, that’s very kind. Do let me know what you think of it.
how lovely of your mother to host a party for you. I was very surprised to hear you had not made a chocolate victoria sponge in your chocolate blogging days but I guess that would horrify the purists. Strangely enough I have made a few because E loves them although they aren’t really my favourite but I do appreciate them occasionally. I didn’t know about caster sugar as I am never afraid of breaking tradition.
Lovely sponge. I’m definitely not purist and I’m happy to see (and eat) any variations in the old VS. I must admit, though, if I’m feeling really nostalgic, then a filling of strawberry jam and buttercream with caster sugar on top provides the Proust moment.
I love to bake with wholemeal. Your victoria sponge looks perfect.
Well yes, you and me both Angie. Luckily wholemeal flours and whole foods seem to be on the rise and are becoming more popular 🙂
Yummy! My mum always made a Victoria sponge with wholemeal flour although she did often put cream in it too!
A beautiful Victoria sponge! I don’t think I have baked it in a very long time. Your cake looks fabulous!