duch*ess of Cornwall shares her Victoria Sponge recipe (2024)

FAQs

Did the Queen like Victoria Sponge? ›

Food historian Alysa Levene reported in her 2016 bookCake: A Slice of Historythat the Queen was in fact particularly fond of this simple yet delicious sponge cake and enjoyed having a slice with her afternoon tea.

The Victoria Sponge was named after Queen Victoria, who regularly ate a slice of sponge cake with her tea, each afternoon! To mark Royal Garden Parties, Buckingham Palace Pastry Chef's are delighted to share this traditional recipe.

Victoria sponge

The recipe evolved from the classic pound cake made with equal proportions of flour, fat, sugar and eggs. The invention of baking powder in 1843 by English food manufacturer Alfred Bird in Birmingham allowed the cake to rise higher than was previously possible.

The couple enjoyed several years together, and became a golden couple to the outside world, symbolic of power, wealth, family values and love. Despite it being a true love match, the couple experienced ups and downs like everyone else, but managed to preserve their passionate love for each other and the royal family.

Some historians have speculated that she was disengaged, resentful, and even disgusted by her children, while others have argued that time, editing, and Victoria's own frankness painted an unrealistic picture of the so-called Grandmother of Europe.

The main ingredients in sponge cakes are egg, sugar and flour. The addition of air is another key ingredient in the sponge, which gets introduced through the mixing process.

The primary difference is that angel cake relies solely on egg whites and contains no fats, while sponge cake uses both egg yolks and whites and can often include fats like butter.

Unlike other types of cake, such as butter or oil cakes, sponge cakes do not contain much fat which contributes to it's light texture. Sponge cake is often used as a base for other desserts, such as layered cakes, trifle, or as a component in various French-style pastries.

Posted on www.today.com (Read original article here.) “This chocolate biscuit cake is Her Royal Majesty the Queen's favorite afternoon tea cake by far,” chef Darren McGrady, The Royal Chef and former personal chef to Queen Elizabeth II, told TODAY Food.

The four-tier wedding cake of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten stood 2.7 metres high, weighed 220 kilograms and was decorated with ornate scenes from the future Queen's life. After Prince Philip cut the alcohol-laced fruitcake with his sword, an entire layer was sent to Australia.

What's the difference between vanilla cake and Victoria sponge? ›

There are however some features which may distinguish them. The first is that there is usually more milk and fewer eggs in a vanilla cake than there is in a Victoria sponge. On the whole this makes them a bit denser in texture but also a bit more moist.

Oil Cake. Oil cakes follow the same principles as butter cakes, but use oil as the source of fat. Because oil is liquid at room temperature, oil cake recipes skip the step of creaming the fat and sugar; usually the oil is incorporated into the wet ingredients, which are whisked or folded into the dry ingredients.

Naked cakes are layer cakes that are unadorned (or nearly bare) on the sides. That's right: no swoops of frosting or colorful iced patterns.

If the ingredients are at different temperatures then they may not combine properly and the cake will be dense. If the eggs are stored in the fridge then remove them several hours before using, so they are properly at room temperature.

Queen Elizabeth's Favorite Cake: Chocolate Biscuit Cake.

Victoria and Albert's engagement

The cousins were introduced by their uncle, Leopold I (1790 - 1865), King of the Belgians. In their memoirs, both Albert and Victoria record that they almost instantly fell in love.

According to a tell-all biography of Victoria composed by “a member of the Royal household”, she was particularly fond of “chocolate sponges, plain sponges, wafers of two or three different shapes, langues de chat, biscuits and drop cakes of all kinds, tablets, petit fours, princess and rice cakes, pralines, almond ...

Queen Victoria enjoyed eating and because she was Queen, and had plenty of money, she could eat whatever she wanted. This was quite the opposite to most of the Victorian population, who had very little money. Queen Victoria had many banquets while she was entertaining guests at Buckingham Palace.