You can read about the cake and the recipe at my new food blog MariaDernikos.com here.
As I said in my last entry, this blog was set up to distract me during a very difficult time in my life and to continue writing on it was difficult.
It helped me in many ways, it was a distraction. Now that life has moved on for me I still want to write about food but not under Squirrels Larder.
A bit like a new chapter I have started writing on my new blog: mariadernikos.com
I perhaps should have a fancy redirection widget on here but I am no IT genius so it will have to be the rather awkward method above.
Thank you for reading and visiting.
Your story made me smile, and (in my opinion) ‘old-fashioned’ is not a dirty word – this is a classic. Beautiful cake. I’m planning to make the un-chocolate version this weekend. Last time I tried was for my son’s first birthday and we ended up with ‘Victoria Stone’. It’s taken me 3 years to work up the courage to try again – wish me luck!
Well first off I loved your story that introduced this recipe.
We have just sat down and eaten a slice of sponge made to these instructions and it is an absolute hit.
So many times sponges have ended up looking like leavened bread but this one not only rose it is light and delicious.
Absolute knockout……thank you!!
Hello Bill
Really pleased it turned out well and that you enjoyed it – and for letting me know, its made my Sunday morning!
Maria
I baked your Chocolate Victoria Sponge yesterday and it is delicious! I put a thin layer of chocolate buttercream and a generous layer of cherry preserves between the two sponges. Oh my! That could become a dangerous habit. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Thank you Meg for your comment, and thank you for adding to the recipe. I love the idea of the cherry preserve and will try it myself.
pukkkaaaaa
Thank you for a thoroughly gorgeous story and cake. Delicious!! You can’t beat a slice of good old fashioned Victoria Sandwich, wether it be Vanilla, Chocolate, Lemon or otherwise. I will look forward to lots more stories.
Jane
God bless the Mrs Thomas’ of the world. Thanks for the story, it made me smile. I’ve made the sponge, its delicious (not that i picked a small piece out of the middle to taste, honest…) and will be doing the icing in the morning. I’ve got my grandparents-in-law coming over tomorrow, and im hoping to impress. My grandmother-in-law is a lovely, if somewhat formidable lady, who is in the WI, so hopefully it will go down well, as WI ladies tend to like cake, don’t they? Thanks again x
yay this was AMAZING 🙂 My boyfriend is a total chocoholic so I doubled the recipe, had 3 layers of cake instead. Then melted two big bars of dairy milk and coated the
whole thing, its IN-SANEE! So amazing thank you!!
I love baking and I often bake victoria sponges. Yes it may be an ‘old fashioned’ cake but I’m only 21 and I think it’s just a classic cake that most people love. I’m going to be making this tonight so wish me luck! Will let you know what happens!
I wish you lots of luck and I hope you love the cake?
I didn’t get time to make it 😦 Have work all week but I’m determined to fit it in somewhere! Haha. I’m sure it will be lovely 🙂
Ive made this cake so many times it tastes fantastic and is really easy to make would recommend it to anyone looking for a nice easy cake
Love the story attached – just sitting down waiting for the two halves of the sponge cake to cool and then the amazing butter icing is going to smoosh between 🙂
I Tried this recipe today,i have tried many chocolate sponge recipes this is by far the best, rose well in the oven, soft and bouncy, great texture 🙂 VERY NICE! Thanks for the recipe its a keeper 😀
Josh
Hi – I’m new to your website and happened to stumble upon your Chocolate Sponge Victoria Cake. I followed it and produced a beautiful cake! 2 of my friends came over and we all tucked in. Its a definate must to create the perfect sponge cake. Thanks for such great tips from yourself and all your followers. Best wishes! 🙂
Hi am a novice cook, I bake “simple,old fashioned” recipes, haven’t baked for a long long time but this weekend the baking bug hit me and have baked a sponge iced cake with sprinkles and smarties on top and chocolate krispies with sprinkles on top, I decided to branch out and try making a chocolate cake, and like Saira I stumbled upon your website, love the story at the beginning, am waiting in anticipation for the cake to come out of the oven, so far so good, thank you for this easy to follow good old fashioned recipe
I too loved the story and I will be making this delicious sponge later today and serve it after our Sunday roast. I also have some tinned cherries that I will incorporate in the buttercream icing. Thank you for the great story and recipe!!
I bake all the time, love cooking, the only thing I have never ever had success with is chocolate cake, it’s been a few years since I last tried and decided to have another go the other day, turned out like a brick and went in the bin. Then today I stumbled upon your recipe, I cant figure out what makes this one different, but it worked, I was so shocked, after all these years I finally made a delicious edible chocolate cake, and was so thrilled I posted the pics all over my face book page, Thank-you so much for publishing the recipe, a lifetimes ambition has been realised in this house today.
I have just made this cake and it is so fluffy and light. The aroma is amazing. Will be decorating for my son’s 7 birthday. I have not made a cake like this for over 30 years. Fab thank you
Hi
I have just made this cake with my 4 year old daughter Becky – lots of fun was had – flour and butter everywhere – but it tastes wonderful – and Becky had lots of fun licking the soon after the cake was made. A boring Saturday has been saved and as my daughter is autistic it is difficult to get her to concentrate on one thing for to long – thank you!
this recipe was useful. the cake tasted peng (nice). me and my family loved it. they wanted me to bake one every day but i said i’ll bake you one next weekend.
I have been a cake decorator for 38 years working for a large nationwide bakery but have never actually made a victoria sponge till my youngest grandchild begged me to make one for his birthday party his friend Sean did`nt like fruit cake so I made one using this recipe..HUGE SUCCESS sponge cake went first ( I put a few drops of orange flavouring in the buttercream so that it was,nt to sickly )
favourite grandma
I have just baked mine 🙂 Looks fantastic 🙂 cant wait to eat it later 🙂
I have never baked a cake of any description before but volunteered to host the family Easter get together and decided to make an Easter cake. I followed your recipe and simply increased the ingredients for the buttercream by 50%. This allowed me to ice the top of the cake as well. I then decorated it with mini eggs. My mother described it as “as good as those Nana used to bake”, a huge compliment! Thank you for such a great recipe I shall definitely use it again and may even try changing it to coffee flavor to shake things up a bit.
This is probably by far the best recepe I’ve come accross. It’s simple yet works really well, and the cake is delicious, it’s got a light and fluffy texture to the sponge which is how it should be. I only use this recepe when making a cake now 🙂
My husband made this recipe as part of my mums wedding cake, he had never before made a wedding cake (3 heart shape tiers top cherry and almond sponge, middle this chocolate cake and bottom maderia cake) and i must say it was beautiful, i am currently trying to make this as a birthday treat for him, not sure how its going to turn out for me though.
I’ve just made this chocolate Victoria sponge very nice and is so easy to make. would highly recommend.
I made this cake last weekend (baking was not my thing but im getting better) my hubby loved it, but said maybe next time double the buttetcream. As we ran out by Tuesday i bakef another after work and doubled the buttetcream. Complete hit again. 4 oclock on sunday afternoon and hes just gone to the shop for more butter because he wants it again. I think we can say the recipe is a big hit for us, even with me cooking it. Thank you x
I have never made a cake before but used this recipe to make my wife a birthday cake. So simple yet beautiful and a massive hit. Thank you.
i have just made this reciepe for my husband as im doin a romantic meal tonite. I have also decorated it and looks amazing lets hope he will like it 😉
just waiting for mine to cool before I fill it with fresh whipped cream and cherry preserve and coating it with a chocolate ganache. Hoping the sponge turns out well as everybody seems to say it does as I could not find the usual chocolate sponge recipe I have used for chocolate cake 🙂
Great recipe its really handy for my sisters birthday present
it is an amazing cake!me being a eleven year old girl still loved baking it 🙂
I am 78 years old and have been making cakes for many years. I have not had much luck with my tried and tested Victoria Sponges of late so I decided to try this one. Well thank you so much I am delighted with the result and it is now all ready for our Christmas Fair tomorrow…