Light and Fluffy Sponge Cake Recipe & Method - Daisy Cake Company (2024)

The Right Ingredients

Cakes are made up of 4 basic ingredients: Butter, Sugar, Eggs and Flour with a raising agent. Quantities vary to get different results, but for a perfect Victoria Sponge Cake recipe all ingredients need to be equal. For more information on ingredients read Cakes Essential Ingredients.

This recipe is one of the easiest and most scalable ever. It starts with your eggs – your whole eggs. Weigh them in the shell. I used just 2, but I only made a small 2 layer 6 inch cake. For 3 layers in 8 inch baking tins I would recommend 4 large eggs. You can use more or less eggs depending on the size of your cake pans.

Once you know the weight of your eggs, you weigh all the other ingredients to the same weight.

My 2 eggs weighed 135gms, which meant I used 135gms of room temperature butter or baking spread, 135gms of caster sugar and 135gms of plain or all purpose flour.

Once I cracked the eggs, I was going to lose the weight of the shell, so to get that back I added 1tbspn of milk, per egg, before beating them ready for the mix. For flavour I also added a teaspoon of Vanilla Extract, which can added either to the butter or the egg mixture.

A Note on Flour

I use Plain or all purpose flour. I add my own raising agent. The reason I do this is that I don’t always trust the storing of self-raising flour by supermarkets. I add 1 tspn of baking powder per 100gms of flour (rounded to the closes half teaspoon). You could also use Cake Flour which has added cornflour in it to make it finer. However I have never found a need for that.

Pro-Tip

Always make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature. It'll make it easier for them to come together in the mix.

How to mix for a light and fluffy sponge cake

Do you use the creaming method? For this recipe you should! Make friends with the creaming method.

Put the sugar and butter (or baking spread) in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer beat on medium speed until its changed colour to at least 3 shades lighter. Next you need to add your beaten egg and milk mixture – but do it slowly! Adding too much liquid, too quickly will make it curdle.

What if it curdles - you could potentially lose its fluffiness?

If it does start to curdle you will start to lose all that lovely air, and, well basically, it goes a ‘bit funny’. However, all is not lost if you are looking for an airy cake. If you start to see it curdling pop a dessert spoon of flour into the mixer. This will help it come back together. Don’t add too much flour at this stage though.

Also, make sure you mix on as high speed as possible, without it covering the kitchen and/or you with mixture..

When all the egg mix is added, stop the mixer. You’re now going to finish the batter by hand. Place a sieve over the bowl and sift together the dry ingredients - your flour and baking powder into the mix.

Now, using a large metal spoon, or a rubber spatula, carefully fold the flour in. Folding means cutting through the mix and folding it in on itself. Don’t beat it or stir it, as, you’ll lose all the lovely air you have taken the time to lovingly beat into it. Fold it until all the flour is incorporated.

Which Tins for the Lightest Cakes?

I recommend you bake these in several shallow cake tins. I have tried baking in one big deep tin and slicing the whole cake into layers. However, as it is such a light and fluffy sponge cake, the airbubbles inside can’t support themselves, and it collapsed in on itself. When I tried to bake in a deep tin, the inside of my cake ended up tough and chewy.

I recommend your layers are no more than an inch deep of cake batter. This will of course rise in the oven. If you keep your layers consistent then your bake times will also be consistent.

I also recommend, if you can, using a lighter colour cake pan. A baking pan that is darker in colour will heat up quicker and the outside of the cake may cook quicker and become crunchy.

Lastly, give you tins a couple of good bangs onto the work surface. This will ensure the cake batter is distributed into the corners of the tins and will encourage any large air bubbles to rise to the surface.

Baking Rules for a Light and Fluffy Cake

I bake a 150c to avoid a domed cake. Pop your cakes on the same shelf if possible and don’t open the door for at least 25 minutes!

You may have heard how you should never open the oven door while a cake is baking, or that you should never bang the door. There is a very good reason for this!

As the cake is baking the air inside is getting hot and expanding. This is when it’s at its most volatile. If you open the door, and let a cold gust of air in, it may stop the air from expanding, or worst still, pop all those lovely air bubbles and then there is only one, sad, result – a sunken cake!

Slamming the door of the oven may also pop the bubbles, again resulting in a sunken cake. Be gentle and be careful.

So, no matter how tempted you are….DO NOT OPEN THAT OVEN DOOR!!!!

After 25-30 minutes test your cake to see if it’s done. I do this by either pressing the top – if it bounces back its done. Or the old tried and tested method stick a skewer in the middle – if it comes out clean, it’s done.

When it’s done remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly, before running a thin knife around the edges and removing from the tin. Always put your cake layers bottom side down on the cooling rack to avoid any unsightly lines on the tops of the cake.

What is this cake best for?

This classic Victoria Sponge is ideal as an afternoon tea cake. I filled mine with orange buttercream and lemon curd. The Women's Institute frown upon buttercream and recommend filling with JUST raspberry jam. (I once got disqualified from a local cake baking competition for using it.) However, in my mind the classic combo is actually vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam, or even fresh whipped cream and fresh fruit such as strawberries.

This light and fluffy sponge cake is also the perfect cake for celebration cakes. If you are covering your cake in fondant, for best results I would recommend filling and crumb coating before wrapping it in cling film or plastic wrap and leaving it overnight to settle. If you try to fondant it immediately it will settle afterwards and muck up your fondant work.

This cake is also great in a tiered cake, if you’re dowelling and internal structure is good.
This cake, however, is NOT good for sculpting or carved cakes. It’s just much of a light cake for the job. Believe me I’ve tried, with terrible results.

How long will this cake last?

This airy sponge cake will last up to 5 days if stored in an airtight container. If wrapped in buttercream and fondant it will be well protected, and as a celebration cake will easily last a few days.

How do I flavour alter my Sponge Cake to suit what I need?

This is one of my favourite recipes and is the basis for many others I bake. It can be scaled in size easily and flavours can be added.

If you would like to learn how to scale the recipe, or change the flavour profile all the information you need is in my Professional Bakers Ebook.

Light and Fluffy Sponge Cake Recipe

Bronya Seifert

This is an unconventional recipe because all the weights start from weighing the eggs! This is enough to make 2 x 6" cake layers. Refer to the chart in the post for scaling the recipe up and down.