Battenburg Cake. A quintessential English teatime treat, the Victoria Sponge , is another cake associated with Queen Victoria. Originally, the Victoria Sponge may have started in the nursery. In the early Victorian period, afternoon tea consisted of seed cake and fruit cake. For safety reasons, it was believed that children should not eat a cake containing pieces of fruit or seeds.
The light, harmless Victoria Sponge was prepared as a teatime treat for them instead! Only later on did it make its way to the adult tea table. Another nursery favourite was Osborne Pudding , a variation on the traditional bread and butter pudding that uses brown bread and marmalade. Swiss Cottage was originally built by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert for their children and this is where they learned how to cook and bake.
The Victoria sponge cake is about as classic as they come. So how did the Victoria sponge become so synonymous with sponge cakes in general?
We have briefly visited the history of the Victoria sponge cake in our previous blog post on the history of some of your favourite cakes and desserts. You may recall from our earlier blog post on the best places for afternoon tea in the North East that the tradition originated with one lady. Specifically, Anne Russell, the 7th Duchess of Bedford. At that time, in the 19th Century, the evening meal often referred to as High Tea was taken between and PM. Today, High Tea and Afternoon Tea are phrases that are often used interchangeably.
However, high tea - very likely referring to the fact that it was eaten at a dining table or high bench, was made up of hot, more substantial fare, such as meats and strong tea. So she requested that some tea and light food was brought to her drawing-room to stave off her afternoon hunger pains.
Later, she began inviting friends to partake of this new afternoon tea with her. One of these friends was none other than Queen Victoria herself. The Victoria sponge is so well known these days that it would be easy to assume that it is the original sponge cake. In actuality, the sponge cake can be traced back to roughly the 15th Century.
The sponge cake was also one of the first types of cake to be made without yeast. These original confections, while no doubt being the forerunners to the modern sponge cake, were closer to a type of biscuit.
The first mention of what we would recognise as a type of sponge cake comes from a recipe book by English author Gervase Markham, called The English Huswife. In Italy, at the court of Catherine De Medici, a similar confection was presented, these being called Savioardi. These may actually be the origins of the ladyfinger recipe. There are a wide variety of different types of sponge cake around the world.
Similar to their fluffy, jiggly cheesecakes that gained viral popularity a few years back, the Japanese cotton sponge cake has a similar light, jiggly texture. South-East Asia has several unique sponge cake recipes that are so different from the English Victoria sponge. Many of them tend to be closer to a chiffon cake, which is a type of sponge cake made using vegetable oil instead of a solid fat source such as butter.
This makes it easier to beat more air into the cake batter, thus creating a lighter textured sponge. These cakes are made up of butter or lard, flour and eggs, then cooked in a bamboo steamer to give them their distinctive puffiness. In the Philippines, they have mamon cakes, which are baked in distinctive cupcake-like moulds.
They also have the ube cake, which is instantly recognisable from its vivid purple colouring. The name and colour come from the addition of the ube halaya mashed purple yams in the recipe. Baking powder and soda are crucial for encouraging light and fluffy cakes, as without it was significantly harder to produce light sponges.
Originally the Victoria sponge was thought to have started in the nursery, as early Victorian afternoon tea consisted of seed and fruit cake. For the safety of children, it was suggested children should not eat cake with fruit or seed. Victoria sponge cakes were created as a result to be a harmless teatime specialty for just the children.
Our Victoria sponge will delight everyone at celebrations, which can be topped off with one of our cake toppers! You can even upload your own photo to be printed on a topper. A wonderful addition to all celebrations. Personalise your order by adding a tipple, like a mini bottle of prosecco, a gin and tonic or whiskey and coke. Or why not add a comforting hot drink, such as tea, coffee or hot chocolate, all great additions to accompany a Victoria sponge for a celebratory event!
To make it ready for a birthday celebration you can add candles, to sing happy birthday!
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