My recipe for gluten free Victoria sponge cake never lets anyone down. It’s very easy to make and tastes divine. The mixture can also be used to make other gluten and dairy free cakes by adding other flavours.
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Yet again, the gluten free diet is being bashed as being ‘bad for your health.’
This time suggesting that those following it potentially miss out on the protective affect on the heart that whole grains have.
The large study was carried out over a long time period in the USA and was reported in the British Medical Journal.
The study concluded that “avoidance of gluten may result in reduced consumption of beneficial whole grains, which may affect cardiovascular risk. The promotion of gluten-free diets among people without celiac disease should not be encouraged.”
Once again, it is assuming that everyone on a gluten-free diet eats highly processed products.
However, there are lots of gluten free whole grains to chose from.
What gluten free whole grains are there?
There are so many wonderful gluten free whole grains.
Examples include teff, quinoa, sorghum and buckwheat (to name a few).
I have shown, through the development of my flour blends, that cooking and baking with wholegrain gluten free flours is easy.
Therefore this advice would seem ridiculous.
Rather than tell people to avoid the gluten free diet, they should be advising people to eat the fabulous gluten free whole grains that exist.
Anyway, off my soap box and on to my recipe.
How do you make gluten free Victoria sponge cake?
Gluten free Victoria sponge is a recipe that has been requested so many times I’ve lost count.
It’s so simple I’ve never shared it, despite making it all the time.
I use it as the basis of most of my gluten free, dairy free sponge cakes, flavoured whatever way I like. If you’re interested to know more about that then head to my post called ‘The Secret To Great Gluten Free Cakes’
I always make my Victoria sponge with just a simple jam filling. You can of course use buttercream or whipped cream as well. If you wanted to make a dairy free icing you could use my vegan icing without margarine recipe. Alternatively you could make a ‘butter’ icing with margarine following this recipe.
The only difference between making a gluten free Victoria sponge and a ‘normal’ one is the flour you use. It’s important to read this article: ‘What Is A Gluten Free Flour Blend?’ before you start baking. It will save you lots of money on ingredients wasted on less than perfect results.
For this recipe I use my wholegrain gluten free flour blend, for the reasons outlined above. You can buy it from my shop here.
It’s very easy to work with and requires no additional ingredients when it comes to cake making. Just use it in place of wheat flour in your favourite cake recipes.
If you’re still worried about gluten free cake making then you can watch me make it. I made it live on Facebook yesterday and you can see a recording of that here.
It was all a little chaotic but it shows how easy it is to make if you need that little extra push to do it.
Do you need special equipment to make the cake?
The short answer is no. You could make this cake with just a bowl, a whisk, some elbow grease and some round cake tins. And of course an oven.
I personally prefer making cakes the easy way with a bit of equipment.
I always used to make cakes with a handheld electric whisk like this one.
However, I was gifted a Sage stand mixer a few years ago and have never looked back. It’s a brilliant machine with various attachments for whisking, beating and more. It makes light work of cake making and it means you can get on with tidying up while it does the job of mixing!
Since this recipe is an all in one cake recipe, you just load the ingredients into the bowl and set it beating with the K beater attachment. The best thing about this machine is that the beater has a scraper edge to it meaning you don’t have to stop so often to scrape the mixture off the sides of the bowl.
Once the mixture has combined it’s a simple case of dividing it between two 18cm cake tins and putting them in the oven.
If you love this recipe then sign up for my free gluten free recipe booklet below. You’ll get recipes for scones, pastry, pizza, Yorkshire puddings and more. You’ll also get my weekly newsletter with recipe inspiration.
Pin the recipe for gluten free Victoria sponge so you don’t lose it:
Perfect Gluten Free Victoria Sponge Cake (Dairy Free Options)
Ingredients
- 150 g butter softened - or dairy free margarine
- 150 g white sugar
- 3 eggs medium size, free range or organic
- 175 g Free From Fairy self-raising flour OR 175g FFF plain flour plus 1 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 tbsp jam of your choice
Method
- Turn your oven on to 180 degrees C/160 degree fan/ gas mark 4
Line and grease 2 18cm round cake tins (I use re-usable baking paper for the bottom of my tins. You can find a link to that on my 'Vicki recommends' page
- Place all the ingredients except the jam into a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer (you can sift the flour is you want to, but I don't usually)
- Beat well until you have a smooth batter (you could do this with a wooden spoon, electric whisk or stand mixer)
- Divide the batter into the two tins and smooth to the edges of the tin giving an even layer of batter
- Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15-25 minutes depending on your oven. When it's done it will be soft to the touch but not sloppy!
- Allow to cool in the tins before turning out onto a wire rack and leaving to cool completely
- Finally, spread jam across one cake before topping with the other cake
Recipe Notes
Nutrition facts are for guidance only.
? says
Hi. May I ask why white sugar not an unrefined sugar? I’ve noticed a few recipes lately stated white sugar. Does it make a difference?
Thanks
Vicki Montague says
Hi there, I just mean bog standard white sugar…you can use unrefined it’s just more expensive and frankly sugar is sugar whatever form you eat it in!
Angel says
Thanks.
Mr Diane REEVES says
Hi,where can I get free from fairy s.r.flour
Vicki Montague says
Hi Diane, you can get it from my shop which you’ll find on my site under the shop menu. 🙂
Rebecca Smith says
The good old Victoria Sponge, you can play with ingredients, have gravity defying cakes, cake that hold a treasure chest of sweeties..but is the Victoria we all love at the end of the day. So glad you’ve share this recipe Vicki, sometime we need to be reminded of the beauty of traditional basic baking….perfection xxx
Vicki Montague says
Ah thanks Rebecca!
Angel says
Well said.
Kate - glutenfreealchemist says
Ha! I think we are telepathic! I had planned a Vic Sponge for this week (until I went off the boil and couldn’t manage to do anything!)….. and here it is! You’ve done one for me xx
When I get back to the blog groove, I will make one too….. although I doubt it will be as nice as yours x
Vicki Montague says
I suspect, Kate, that it will be way better. You are the queen of cakes and I’ve never seen a non-fabulous one on your site!
Julie McPherson says
Vicki you have certainly perfected this recipe, your Victoria Sponge looks absolutely amazing. Commenting as BritMums Baking Round-up Editor
Vicki Montague says
Ah thanks Julie, that’s really kind!
patricia billings says
Hi
Do you have an egg free victoria sponge recipe, as this is what I thought this one was going to be, when I first read my email.
Vicki Montague says
Hi Patricia. I’m pretty confident that you could replace the eggs with chia or flax eggs in this recipe..I’ve done it in other cakes and I know a lot of vegan bakers use my self raising flour because the raising agents are super powerful and make up for the lack of rise from the eggs…
Anyonita says
Here, here! That’s one stunning cake! So lofty & that jam oozing out? *drooling on my keyboard* 🙂 I’ve never heard of your flour blend before, but I’ll be looking into that straight away! Also, I run a weekly link party called #FreeFromFridays that celebrates free from food and I’d love it if you shared this with us at this week’s party! You can link directly to this recipe or to a pin from this recipe. Come party with us at http://www.anyonita-nibbles.co.uk/2017/06/freefromfridays-number-6.html
Vicki Montague says
Hi Anyonita, thanks for your lovely comment! A couple of my blogging friends also run a linkup with the same name?!! Anyway, love your site…it looks fab!
DairyFreeAndy says
Thanks for this recipe. It’ll be perfect for my grandmother’s birthday as we have a mix of gluten-free, dairy-free and soy-free children in the family 🙂
Vicki Montague says
Ah that’s brilliant…well not that you have children with restricted diets in the family but you know what I mean! Let me know how it goes.
Nicky Vaughan says
Hello again Vicki ! Have made this beautiful cake a number of times now , with your flour of course , but find the outer layer / crust often breaks away or comes off after baking . The cakes itself is gorgeous and always gets eaten but wish I could prevents the crumbling off of the outside layer … any ideas ?? All the ingredients are the same except for using golden unrefined sugar . Perfect otherwise !!
Vicki Montague says
Mmm Nicky I’m not sure. Are you greasing the tin well enough??
Diane says
Made this cake for my grandaughters 2nd birthday and it turned out beautifully but just made it for my grandsons 5th birthday and it was very thin and not well risen any ideas what I might of done wrong……. my daughter in law and grandaughters are gluten and dairy intolerant so I make these sponges so we can all have a slice
Vicki Montague says
How odd!! Did you add extra baking powder by any chance? My self-raising flour has double acting raising agents in which are strong and don’t require any additional help. If you do add extra baking powder you will get a flat cake…
sue says
Hi Vicki I have just made a victoria sponge using your sr flour all went well until I took it out of the oven and took it out of the tins but it appeared to be very crusty and it was very dry and crumbley although it tasted very good i couldn’t cut slices as it fell to pieces.Please can you help?
Vicki Montague says
Hi Sue, I replied to your comment on the post about gluten-free flours…let me know what you did.
Linda Garrett says
Hi Vicki, my Granddaughter can’t have eggs. Will this recipe work ok with egg substitute?
Many thanks
Linda
Vicki Montague says
Hi Linda, sorry to hear about your grand daughter. I think the recipe would be fine with egg substitute. You may want to add a 1/2 tsp of baking powder to help with the rise. Let me know know you get on!
Harriet says
I’m going to make this for my best friend’s birthday cake who is gluten free, but has also just turned dairy free whilst breastfeeding. Unfortunately I don’t have time to order your flour – will Dove’s Farm Gluten Free flour be a good enough substitute? Should I add anything else with it such as baking powder? Thank you
Vicki Montague says
Hi Harriet, I haven’t tried the recipe with Doves but you should be fine. Buy their self-raising and perhaps add a little more liquid in the form of dairy free milk. Good luck!
Maz says
Hi. Does your flour contain xanthum gum as I can’t tolerate it? Thanks.
Vicki Montague says
Hi Maz, so sorry for my late reply…I missed your comment. No, it doesn’t contain anything except flour (and raising agents in the self raising).
Sally Woodgate says
Made your Victoria Sponge Cake using your own Self Raising Flour and it came out beautifully light and well risen. Very easy to make with my Kenwood Mixer and very easy to eat.
Vicki Montague says
That’s great to hear Sally! Thanks so much for letting me know 🙂