Victoria Sponge with Summer Berries

There is something very appealing about a simple fruit topped victoria sponge cake. It's an easy way to transform a simple cake into a showstopper, especially with so many beautiful berries coming into season at this time of year.

To make this cake extra tasty, I added fresh sliced strawberries in between the cake layers for extra fruitiness - perfect if you are baking the cake for a special occasion. A sprinkling of icing sugar also adds a subtle and sweet finishing touch.

Basic Victoria sponge recipes are available in most good baking recipe books. I love this one by Mary Berry - the Queen of cakes!

Ingredients (Serves 8-10)

For the sponge
4 large eggs
225g caster sugar
225g self-raising flour
1 level tsp baking powder
225g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

For the jam
200g raspberries
250g jam sugar
For the buttercream
100g unsalted butter, softened
200g icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp milk

For decorating
Mixed berries: I used strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries
Icing sugar


- Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Grease and line 2 x 20cm sandwich tins: use a piece of baking paper to rub a little butter around the inside of the tins until the sides and base are lightly coated. Line the bottom of the tins with a circle of baking paper.
- Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl, then add the sugar, flour, baking powder and soft butter.
- Mix everything together until well combined, be careful not to over-mix – as soon as everything is blended you should stop. The finished mixture should be of a soft ‘dropping’ consistency.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the tins and gently smooth the surface of the cakes.
- Bake on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
- While the cakes are cooking, make the jam. Place the raspberries in a small deep-sided saucepan and crush them with a masher. Add the sugar and bring to the boil over a low heat until the sugar has melted. Increase the heat and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and carefully pour into a shallow container. Leave to cool and chill to set.
- The cakes are done when they’re golden-brown and coming away from the edge of the tins. Press them gently to check – they should be springy to the touch. Remove them from the oven and set aside to cool in their tins for five minutes. Then run a palette or rounded butter knife around the inside edge of the tin and carefully turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack.
- For the buttercream, beat the butter in a large bowl until soft then add half of the icing sugar and beat until smooth. Add the remaining icing sugar and one tablespoon of the milk and beat the mixture until creamy and smooth. Add the remaining tablespoon of milk if the buttercream is too thick. Spoon the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle.
- To assemble, choose the sponge with the best top, then put the other cake top-down on to a serving plate. Spread with the jam then pipe the buttercream on top of the jam, save a little buttercream for spreading on top. I added the sliced strawberries on top of the buttercream at this point.
- Place the other sponge on top (top uppermost) and spread the remaining buttercream on top of the cake. Decorate with the berries however you wish. Sprinkle with icing sugar to finish.

Tip:

- To take your cakes out of the tins without leaving a wire rack mark on the top, put a clean tea towel over the tin, put your hand onto the tea towel and turn the tin upside-down. The cake should come out onto your hand and the tea towel, then you can turn it from your hand onto the wire rack. Set aside to cool completely.
- If you're making a Victoria Sponge without decorating it with fruit and buttercream, add a sprinkling of caster sugar, instead of icing sugar, for sweet crunchy topping.