Victoria sponge cake is a bit old-fashioned and not everyone wants to make them any more. The taste of a homemade sponge cake is totally different from anything else bought in a shop and it is not that difficult to make. It’s just like a giant cup cake. I hate that word ‘cup’ cake.
I can remember one Christmas our cooker blew up taking my mother’s eyelashes, eyebrows and a good chunk of her hair. Her only crime was to open the oven door. The gas board got the blame and I can remember coming home from school to find two ladies from the gas board in our kitchen making Victoria sponges. Apparently this was the tried and tested scientific method to see how the gas was performing in the cooker.
As a child I would know that a particularly good slice of Victoria sponge cake could be had at Mr and Mrs Thomas’s house, they lived in a house across from ours. Every afternoon on the dot of four Mrs Thomas a tall American lady who sported a short bob and always wore a tweed suit, would load up the wooden tea trolley and wheel it through to the sitting room where Mr Thomas would appear from his workshop in the garden to join her in their ritual cup of tea and solitary slice of cake. Mrs Thomas didn’t have children of her own and had a reputation of speaking her mind, which didn’t endear her to her fellow neighbours. She also did not take kindly to children save for a few exceptions. Guess what? I was one of the few exceptions, and would often sit quietly in one of their oversized armchairs whilst stuffing myself with tea and cake listening to the grown up chat with one eye on the chance of a second slice (it never came, but there was always hope). Once or twice I did take Mark who lived further up round to the French windows and we would stand and wait for the beckoning finger, sometimes we were beckoned and other times we were ignored. Tea and cake was never a certainty at the Thomas’s but yearning for something always makes it taste all the better.
Chocolate Victoria Sponge Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Filling
Ingredients
6 oz/175g unsalted butter
6 oz/175g caster sugar
3 eggs large beaten
5 oz/150g self raising flour
1 oz/25g cocoa powder
1 tbs warm water (optional)
Buttercream
2 tbsp cocoa powder
4 oz/100g softened butter
4oz/100g icing sugar
Icing sugar to dust or split the buttercream and put half between sponges and the other half on top.
Turn oven to Gas mark 4/180C/350F.
Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until it is light in colour then mix in the eggs a little at a time – putting too much in will make the mixture curdle. If this happens add a tablespoon of the weighed out flour and keep mixing until it blends to a smooth consistency.
Sift the flour and cocoa powder into the bowl with the butter and sugar and fold it in. If the mixture is slightly heavy add the water. I mostly add the water but this time the eggs might have been a little larger so I didn’t add it.
Now divide the mixture between two 8-inch sandwich tins. Level with a knife and put both tins in the middle of the oven for about 20 minutes. In my gas oven I leave them for just over 25 minutes. All cookers cook differently so you need to check. I know when they are ready because when I gently push the top with my finger the sponge bounces back. Another sign is the sponge is slightly coming away from the sides of the tin.
Cool on a wire rack – don’t put the sponge top side down as it with appear with criss cross marks.
To make the buttercream soften the butter and then add the sifted icing sugar and cocoa and beat until smooth. If you find the buttercream heavy add a tablespoon of milk and beat this in.
Sandwich together the two halves and either sift icing sugar over the top or split the buttercream adding half in between the sponges and half on top, if you want to go further you could then add chocolate buttons.
[…] Your can read about the cake and the recipe here. […]
I adore Victoria sponge but have never seen a recipe for chocolate. I also loved your story, I could actually visualize Mrs. Thomas serving her delicious cake and tea. Lovely recipe and I will give it a try.
Thank you for your kind comment. I think Mrs Thomas would be most surprised to know that her cake is being so fondly remembered!
this is just so good!!
Amazing and so easy to make,defo baking this again,heaven xxx
Thank you. There is not a lot to it but it always works for me and never seems to be around for long!
Me and my 4 year old daughter have just made our first chocolate Victoria sponge cake, brilliant recipe to follow! It was beautiful thanks
Thank you Lisa for your lovely comment. Even better that it turned out well especially as your daughter helped.
Looking forward to making this today :o) as you don’t like the word “cup” cake… You could go old style British and call them Fairy Cakes instead :-p xx
Fairy cakes were what cup cakes were when I was a child. Somehow being offered a fairy cake sounds a little more exciting!!
I do hope the cake rises for you Michelle but most of all I hope it tastes good.
Yum yum is pretty much my only comment. I baked it today with my young daughter. We adapted slightly and made 1 big cake and several smaller fairy cakes it was easy to follow and came out perfect.
Hello Nicola
So glad it turned out well. Especially as your daughter was helping. Its a good basic recipe, once you make it and get a feel for it you can then play around with the recipe and make it yours.
can i ask how do you make the buttercream icing less sweet?
I have given this some thought and I can’t really think of a way of making the buttercream less sweet, perhaps choosing another filling would be a better option. Double cream mixed with melted chocolate would cut down the sugar content but would mean the cake would have to be eaten the same day.
Maybe you could use less quantity of the filling and/or maybe add a layer of unsweetened jam on top of the sponge layer, maybe something a little sour to counteract the sweetness? Raspberry, sour cherry, lemon, orange. Of course tho, this would change the overall taste of the cake.
Hello Michelle
I tried to leave a comment on your site but wasn’t able to. Loved that you tried the cake. It is sometimes rather nice to be the only one around to lick the bowl afterwards!
[…] recipe is an adaptation of Chocolate Victoria Sponge by Maria […]
Hi, I bake as often as I can (not that often at all unfortunately) but hadn’t baked a good chocolate cake in a long time and found myself craving a simple one with buttercream, after trawling through all my recipe books I couldn’t find what I wanted as they were all much more complicated than I wanted to bother with so turned to the internet. That is how I found you and this wonderful recipe, I’ve made it twice now and everyone has loved it, its perfect and exactly what I was after, I’m now getting requests from friends for it! I was just wondering if it would be ok to make into fairy buns? Some people change recipes for buns but I think it would still work? My daughter and I have a playdate with a friend on Monday and its one of the friends that gushed over how amazing my cake looked (maybe the only reason we have the playdate lol) so I thought I make her some buns as a suprise lol
So glad you like the recipe and it works for you. I would use it for fairy cakes, the only thing I would do is that the first time I made them I would check on the timing in the oven. I have two ovens, a fan oven and a very old gas cooker and both cook things differently. After 20 minutes I would very carefully open the oven door and just see how they are doing. Good luck.
Hi, my daughter and I have just made the sponge part of the recipe but it didn’t rise much at all. Any idea what went wrong? Thanks Rob and Erin
Hello Rob and Erin
I am sorry the sponge didn’t rise. I don’t know why it didn’t rise but it happens to all of us from time to time. I can only ask, did you use large eggs? did you beat the sugar and butter well so that when rubbed between your fingers there was no grittiness? Did you carefully fold in the flour? Did you open the oven door while they were baking? This is a very tried and tested recipe so I can’t think where you might have gone wrong. There are many sites on the internet about this problem. Perhaps had I been there I might have a better suggest. I hope you give it another go and it rises for you.
Just made this with my 3 year old daughter. Great recipe, easy to follow. Thanks for sharing.
Charlotte – thank you for commenting. So pleased the recipe worked for you.
I’ve been looking for a basic chocolate Victoria sponge recipe and this sounds perfect. I’m going to attempt making this. Wish me luck! 🙂
Good luck and I hope you enjoy eating it.
I was looking for a simple, no frills chocolate victoria sponge & I came across this one. Wow, I am so glad I found it. It is not over chocolately & it is so light I thought it would float away. This is the one for me from now on.
Thank you Alison. It works for me too and never lasts long.
Lovely simple recipe, enjoyable to make and even better to eat xxxx
Thank you 🙂
So glad you like it. Quick to make, quick to eat!
just made your lovely cake with my 9 year old son (his 6 year old brother isn’t in the least interested in baking) We also had a 7 year old little girlfriend from down the road helping us to! It was incredibly yummy and wont last long at all…although it was so light and fluff that the sides got a bit stuck in the tin and so some of it is missing around the side. I think my assistants didn’t quite do the greasing as well as I may have done and my concentration could have been better but there were 6 children in the house as it is half term! Thank you, will make again soon (alone!)
I hope all your assistants liked the cake? I do hope you managed to get a slice before it disappeared. Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment its always nice to know a little bit about who makes this recipe.
Yummy! that buttercream looks smooth and delicious, and that sponge cake looks so fluffy and yummy!
Thank you. It tastes as good as it looks! I would say that wouldn’t I!
Beautifully written!
Thank you. The cake and story are close to my heart.
Maria, myself and my three year old son made this for my husbands birthday and it was very popular!! We are now going to make it again, this time just for the three of us to share 🙂
Lisa, So pleased the recipe has worked so well for you. I find how ever many you bake it for it doesn’t last!
This recipe is fantastic! My family loved the choccy cake and it was quick and easy to make – thank you! 🙂
Thank Jo for leaving the comment, its always nice to hear when someone else makes and loves it.
i cant wait to try this recipe 🙂
I hope you do and come back and tell me how it turned out.
[…] hold the memory of my relationship with Mrs Thomas, the same Mrs Thomas of the Chocolate Victoria Sponge fame. Mrs Thomas was an American married to an eccentric English inventor, and someone I would visit […]
Dear Maria Dernikos,
I had a cake business for a few years which i had retired from in order to complete my studies. I have been using your shared recipe since 2013 possibly … and now in 2016 i find it’s baking away in the oven 🙂 i don’t bake for myself often but on the rare occasion when i’m in the mood for a chocolate cake… it has to be this recipe of yours! Thank you for sharing it. Love and prayers.
Dear Uma, I really appreciate you leaving a comment and such a nice one too. It is lovely to hear that by sharing a recipe someone else gets enjoyment. I am so pleased you like the recipe and use it often. I often use it – it has over the years become my fail safe cake recipe. Its really is my pleasure to share it and thank you for reading my post.
Cant beat this recipe. So delcious, thanks for sharing.
Simon
Thank you so much Simon.
Hi Maria…I received some bad news this evening…and ever since have felt the urge to make me and my family a chocolate sponge. I have a great recipe (American) that I normally use for a great chocolate cake, but I really want something more homely, granny and wintry London evening about it, rather than the springy cake you get with American recipes using oil.
I’m off to the kitchen now to make your one (although I fancy vanilla buttercream instead of choclate)…loved the story that went with it and its had great reviews from those that tried it…I get the feeling it’s going to be just what we need…and will go lovely with a cuppa and Question Time. Thank you 🙂
What a lovely comment, thank you. I am sorry though to found my recipe because of bad news. As with all my recipes I try and write them so that you can put your own twist to them, making them yours. I do hope the recipe worked for you and will become a favourite.
Thanks Maria- it went down a treat 🙂
So pleased. Love it when I get feedback. I try and write the recipes in the hope that others will be able to re create them in their own kitchens. So thrilled when I hear that they work out.
My Mum made this chocolate cake all the time but put buttercream on top too with chocolate buttons!!! Yummy
Sounds just about perfect