Named for Queen Victoria it is well known that the Queen herself had no great fondness for sweet things.

Never-the-less, because of its revered status in kitchen folklore the name is enough to set fear in the heart of many a novice cook!

It has become a part of the national psyche.

My grandmother used to compete at local W.I. cake challenges and used to love what could be an incredibly competitive event! Far more so than actually warranted.

Everybody has their own idea of how a Victoria sponge should look and taste, their preferred filling. These recipes are, again, from a magazine baking supplement from the mid-fifties.

The basic recipe however, once mastered, can be turned into any number of different styles and fashions.

For myself I must admit the more highly decorated examples given on these pages are over-sweet and rather over-the-top. A simple sandwich cake, filled with strawberry jam and whipped cream and dusted, through a doily with powder sugar, can look sensational!

I also include here a page of icings and fillings that were popular at the time. Probably too sweet and sickly for more modern tastes they are very much of their time and so deserve inclusion here.

The Battenburg, incidentally, is named for Prince Louis Mountbatten, Queen Victoria’s son-in-law and the name is a reference to one of his many German titles.