Roasted Strawberry Victoria Sponge

Food52

Test Kitchen-Approved

Photo by Sam A Harris

Serves: 8 - 10
Prep Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Cook Time: 30 Minutes

This recipe is excerpted from "Sift" the 2025 Book of the Year in the Food52 Baking Club. Follow us @f52cookbookclub. "This Victoria sponge breaks the mold of the classic equal parts sugar/flour/butter/eggs. I made over 30 cakes to get the ratio just right. By replacing some of the butter with egg yolks and adding cream, we get an extra-moist cake with good structure and lots of flavor. Reducing the butterfat also allows the other flavors, like the milkiness of the cream, to come through, providing a wonderfully rich and tender backdrop for your whipped cream and fruit. Roasted strawberries could be swapped for jam, but the rich syrup is unbeatable."—Nicola Lamb

Ingredients

For the Cake

2 x 8-inch/20cm cake pans
200 gram /7 oz strawberries
20 gram /2 Tbsp granulated sugar
200 gram / ¾ cup butter, softened plus 2 Tbsp (68°F is great)
5 gram / 1 1/3 tsp flaky sea salt
245 gram / 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
65 gram / ¼ cup heavy cream
160 gram / about 3 whole eggs
35 gram / about 2 egg yolks
4 - 8 gram / 1–2 tsp good quality vanilla extract
90 gram / 6 Tbsp whole milk
245 gram / 2 cups all-purpose flour
17 gram / 4 ¼ tsp baking powder
25 gram / 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
Powdered sugar, to decorate (optional)

For the Whipped Cream

200 gram / ¾ cup plus 2 Tbsp heavy cream
40 gram / 3 Tbsp creme fraiche (optional)
15 - 20 gram / 1 ½ –2 Tbsp granulated sugar (optional)

Directions

Instructions

Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Step 2
To make the roasted strawberries, rinse the strawberries briefly and halve. If they’re small, just leave them whole. Toss with the sugar on a baking sheet. Roast for 30–40 minutes, until soft, syrupy, and slightly shrunken. The strawberries will turn a deeper shade of red. You can keep cooking them for up to 1 hour. Let them cool and move into a container with all the syrup. You can store them in the fridge for 3–5 days.
Step 3
Preheat the oven to 375°F and line the pans. Set aside.
Step 4
To make the cake, cream the soft butter with the salt and sugar for 2 minutes on medium speed using a stand mixer. This is enough for the butter and sugar to aerate slightly and become a little paler, but not so much that it is whipped. It is better to err on the side of caution—we don't want too much air at this stage!
Step 5
Mix together the cream, whole eggs, egg yolks, vanilla extract, and milk. Set aside. Sift together the flour and baking powder. Set aside.
Step 6
Starting with the liquid, alternate adding the liquid and dry ingredients into the creamed butter and sugar, in around three batches, scraping down as necessary.
Step 7
Divide the mixture between the two pans, 475–500g/1 lb 1 oz–1 lb 2 oz per cake Sprinkle one cake with the 25g/2 tablespoons sugar. This will be your top.
Step 8
Bake for 25 minutes, then check if the sponge is golden and bouncy and pulling away from the sides slightly. Bake for an additional 5 minutes if it doesn't look or feel ready. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a rack.
Step 9
To make the filling, whip the cream with the creme fraiche, if using, and granulated sugar, if using, to very soft peaks, then set aside.
Step 10
Spread the whipped cream filling over the unsugared sponge cake, leaving a 1-inch border so it doesn’t splurge too much, followed by generous dollops of the roasted strawberries and their syrup. You may not need to use it all. As a splurging insurance policy, you can pop your assembled cake in the fridge or freezer to firm up the cream a bit.
Step 11
Place the sugared sponge cake on top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. Serve with any extra roasted strawberry syrup.

Ingredients

For the Cake

For the Whipped Cream

Directions

Instructions

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