Victoria Sponge Cupcakes

Fluffy, buttery Victoria Sponge cupcakes topped with light whipped cream, delicious blackberry jam, and fresh berries – elegance and flavor in every bite.

These cupcakes are light, elegant, and delicious – a great recipe for Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, baby showers (or any other child event), birthday parties, girls’ night or an afternoon tea party, summer picnics, and potluck.

Classic Victoria Sponge cake is actually named after Queen Victoria and are traditional English cupcakes, often served as sandwich cupcakes with berry and cream filling between two layers of fluffy spongey cakes.

My delicious Victoria sponge cupcakes don’t use milk or flavoring at all, while regular sponge cupcakes and cakes often use milk and vanilla extract for flavoring.

Recipe Ingredients Notes

My take on English classics with just a few pantry staples – you will only need 5 ingredients to make 12 cupcakes and 4 ingredients for frosting and decoration that you can actually jazz up as you wish!

For Perfect Cupcake Batter

• Unsalted butter, room temperature
• Granulated sugar, pulsed a few times in a food processor to make superfine sugar, or just use caster sugar (it is the same granulated sugar but very fine). Caster sugar can be used for dusting too!
• Eggs to keep the batter structured, combined, and fluffy. I use 3 medium eggs. If using large eggs, use 2. 
• All-purpose flour, plain flour, or self raising flour. All-purpose flour or plain flour needs an extra teaspoon of baking powder to make sure the cupcakes will rise. You can also use a mix of both (equal amount of all-purpose and plain flours)
• Baking powder, skip it if using self-raising flour.

If you want to make the soft vanilla sponge, you can simply add a small amount of pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste. 

Frosting

• Heavy cream – very cold to make some whipping cream topping. You can also use double cream to frost the cupcakes. Low-fat creams won’t fluff up nicely so don’t use them. Fresh whipped cream is always best to frost individual cakes, but if you only have frozen – it is ok.
• Confectioner’s sugar to sweeten the frosting.
• Blackberry jam or any other berry or fruit jam you like! The base of this easy recipe is amazing Victoria sponge cake made into cute cupcakes and the filling is totally customizable! Raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, lemon curd – anything! You can also make the jam from scratch if you have fresh berries and some jam sugar (simply cook them together!).
• Blackberries for garnish. Use fresh berries if possible.

For exact measurements and the shopping list, see the recipe card and the full recipe at the bottom of this post.

Kitchen Equipment

• 12-serving cupcake tin and cupcake paper cases to line the tin with (you can use silicon cupcake cases as well).
• Stand or hand mixer and a large bowl. You can also use a simple electric whisk. 
• Optional, ice cream scoop to measure the batter and fill the muffin tins.

How To Make Victoria Sponge Cupcakes

These stunning and chic mini Victoria sponge cakes come together in about 45 minutes including prep and baking time!

If making ahead only follow steps 1 and 2 – making the batter and baking. Make the cream frosting and decorate only on the day of.

Step 1 – Prepare Cupcake Batter

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F / 180C / 160 C fan oven/ 4 gas mark. Line a 12-serving cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Set aside.
2. Combine the butter, sugar, and eggs into a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until well incorporated. It is best to gradually beat eggs one by one at low speed.
3. If the mix becomes slightly pale – it is completely normal.
4. Sift in the flour and baking powder to the mixing bowl. Slowly stir in the dry ingredients until moistened and then increase the speed and beat on HIGH until the batter is smooth and creamy.

Step 2 – Bake Cupcakes

1. Divide the batter evenly into the prepared cupcake pan until each cup is approximately ⅔ full. You can use a cookie scoop to measure the batter and fill the cake tin. Do not let the batter sit out for long! It will affect the end result.
2. Bake for 16-18 minutes, I bake on the middle rack, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean and the top is golden brown.
3. You can also lightly press the top of a cupcake with your finger. If it springs back, the cupcakes are done.
4. Remove the fairy cakes from the tin and allow them to cool completely on a wire rack – about 1 hour.

Step 3 – Frost Cupcakes

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the heavy cream until it starts to thicken. Gently fold in the confectioner’s sugar, and continue to beat until stiff peaks form – for a couple of minutes.

Transfer the whipped cream into a large piping bag fitted with a large round decorating tip. Set aside.

Step 4 – Decorate Victoria Sponge Cupcakes

1. Remove the liners from the cooled cupcakes, and cut the top off of each cupcake, making sure the tops and bottoms of the cupcakes are equal in size.
2. Spread a layer of blackberry jam evenly over the bottom section of each cupcake.
3. Pipe a swirl of whipped cream on top of the blackberry jam, and place the top half of each cupcake back on.
4. Pipe small dollops of whipped cream on top of each cupcake, and garnish with fresh blackberries.
5. Serve your cute cupcake for afternoon tea or for a birthday dessert table.

Storage

Victoria’s sponge cupcakes are best on the same day. Without frosting or whipped cream, the cupcakes can be stored in a container on the counter.

Store any leftovers with frosting in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 2-3 days.

You can also freeze cupcakes without frosting or jam for 2-3 months. Thaw at room temperature for 2 hours before frosting and decorating. If you’ve already added berry jam, you can’t freeze them. 

I would freeze individual Victoria sponge cupcakes for convenience. Wrap them individually in two layers of plastic wrap and foil. 

You can make the cupcakes 2 days ahead without frosting and frost them the day of.

Victoria Sponge Cupcake Recipe Variations

• Frosting ideas: dust with icing sugar, make buttercream (unsalted butter, icing sugar, and a splash of milk),
• Toppings: strawberry jam and sliced fresh strawberries, raspberry jam (or any berry jam), lemon curd, coconut shavings, freeze-dried strawberry powder, and anything light, fruity, and refreshing works amazing on the top of the cupcakes.
• Filled cupcakes. You can slice the cupcakes in half horizontally with a sharp knife and add a filling: whipped cream and some berry jam (raspberry jam filling is yum!) or preserves. A combo of berries and rhubarb is also nice. Another way to do it is to scoop up some cupcake from the top and fill it in. Chilled cupcakes may be easier to cut.
• Flavor. The easy flavor fix for the cake is to use vanilla extract.
• Fluffy moist cake can use sour cream, milk, or buttermilk.
• To make this mini Victoria sponge cupcakes gluten-free use gluten-free self-raising flour.
• To make this recipe vegan, use dairy-free baking spread, and plant-based cream. Skip eggs.

Expert Tips To Make Victoria Sponge Cupcakes

• Butter and eggs should be strictly room temperature, and heavy cream – cold. That applies to any cupcake and cake recipes.
• A bit of lemon juice can add lightness and also enhance berry flavor. 
• If butter seems too thick, you can thin it out with a little bit of full-fat milk.
• For folding the ingredients in the batter or cream you can use a long large metal spoon.
• It is best to use fresh flour, sift it, and then measure it to avoid using too much flour.
• To make fattier yet lighter cupcakes and the batter that mixes better you can use baking spread instead of butter. Baking spread has less water and is made of different oils.

Popular Questions

How Do You Know When A Victoria Sponge Is Done?

The Victoria sponge cupcakes are done when the top is evenly light golden brown, and if you insert a toothpick or a cake tester in the center it comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. The sponge cake will rise when it is baking.

How Do You Get A Victoria Sponge To Rise Evenly?

Mixing the batter until all the ingredients are well combined, exactly as the recipe calls, and using room temperature ingredients, as well as self-raising flour or regular flour with baking powder will make sure the cake will rise evenly while baking. I set the cake on the middle rack to help it bake evenly too.

Why Is My Victoria Sponge Soggy In The Middle?

The edges cook faster than the center of the Victoria sponge cupcakes. If you still have some baking time left, reduce the heat to allow the cake to rise and bake through evenly and bake for another 10-15 minutes, checking regularly with a toothpick.

Why Is My Victoria Sponge So Crumbly?

Dry Victoria sponge cupcakes will crumble. You may have measured the flour without sifting it and made the batter without eggs or milk. Crumbling can also happen if you bake the sponge cupcakes for too long.

If you love this cupcake recipe, you’re going to love these other cupcakes too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!

More Tasty Cupcakes

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Apple Cider Cupcakes

Cannoli Cupcakes

Funfetti Cupcakes Recipe

---

---