Raspberry sponge cake

Name: Raspberry sponge cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 225 g (1 + 2 tbsp) caster sugar; 225 g (1 ¾ cups) self-raising flour; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 225 g (1 cup) baking spread or butter (softened); 4 eggs; 200 g (1 ½ cups) raspberries; 200 g (½ cup) unsalted butter, softened (softened); 400 g (2 ¾ cups) icing sugar / confectioners sugar, sifted; 2 tablespoons lemon juice; Fresh raspberries; Freeze dried raspberries (optional)

This raspberry sponge cake is light, fluffy and full of delicious bursts of raspberry flavour. Best of all, it’s really simple to bake making it perfect for kids and beginner bakers alike.

This raspberry sponge cake is everything a good Victoria sponge should be, light, fluffy and moist but with the addition of delicious raspberries and a little zing of lemony flavour in the buttercream.

If you want a lovely simple cake for your Afternoon tea but want something more interesting than a plain Victoria sponge, this is the perfect cake for you. It’s no harder to make than a Victoria sponge, but the delicious fresh raspberries and little zing of lemon flavour takes it to the next level and makes it feel more special.

It’s the perfect summer bake.

How can kids help to make a raspberry sponge cake?

This raspberry sponge cake recipe is so simple and uses the ‘all in one’ method which makes it a great, easy bake for kids to try.

As with most bakes, your children can help to measure out all the sponge ingredients and mix them together in one bowl.

This recipe contains 4 eggs which also means there are lots of chances for your kids to practice their egg cracking skills which is an important thing for any young baker to master.

This sponge doesn’t need much decoration, you can make it as simple or as fancy as you like. Your kids can help to assemble everything, adding the lemon buttercream between cake layers as well as piping some on top. Even young children will be able to help add some fresh raspberry decorations on top.

What is the ‘all in one method’?

I love using the all in one method when I’m cooking with my kids. It just means that all the ingredients are added to a bowl at the same time before being mixed together into a smooth batter. In some recipes you have to cream the butter and sugar together first, but there’s no need to do that with this type of lemon Victoria sponge.

It’s so easy and because it only uses one bowl, there’s also less washing up to do which is also a bonus!

Why isn’t my raspberry sponge light and fluffy?

If your sponge hasn’t risen properly and isn’t light and fluffy it may be because you’ve over mixed it. When you’re mixing everything together, do it until the batter becomes smooth with no more visible flour or lumps of butter, don’t over do it. It shouldn’t take longer than a minute or so.

You should also check that you’ve used the correct, in date, raising agents. If you use old self raising flour or baking powder your cake might not rise properly.

What can I use if I don’t have self raising flour?

Self raising flour is common in the UK, but if you don’t have any or can’t find any in your local supermarket, you can swap it for an equal amount of plain or all purpose flour and add 2 extra teaspoons of baking powder and a pinch of salt.

What is baking spread?

Baking spread, (like Stork for example), is just a non dairy margarine that’s great for baking. It can make sponges lighter and fluffier, which means it’s a good, cheaper alternative to butter.

I still like the taste of butter in buttercream icing so I wouldn’t recommend swapping the butter for baking spread in that but it’s great for the sponge.

Should I use fresh or frozen raspberries?

You can use either fresh or frozen raspberries in the sponges. Fresh raspberries are great when they are available but it might be easier to find frozen raspberries all through the year, rather than just in the summer, and they do tend to be cheaper than fresh raspberries.

If you use frozen ones, don’t thaw them before you add them to the batter. They’ll remain more intact when you stir them through, but you might need to add a few minutes on to the bake time.

How do you stop the raspberries sinking to the bottom of the cake?

Before you add the raspberries to your cake batter, add them to a bowl and sprinkle some flour on top of them. Give them a stir so they’re all coated in flour.

Do I have to use lemon buttercream?

The lemon buttercream goes beautifully with the raspberry sponges, but if you want, you could swap it for a plain buttercream and the cake will still be tasty. Rather than using lemon juice to think the icing a bit, add a few tablespoons of milk instead.

Other cake recipes

If you liked this raspberry cake recipe you’ll love some of our other easy cakes and cupcakes:

Lemon sponge cake
Chocolate fudge cake
Butterfly cakes
Rainbow cake
Swiss roll
Easy chocolate cake with a chocolate ganache
Chocolate Victoria sponge
Victoria sponge
Victoria sponge cupcakes
Madeira cake

And if you have any left over raspberries, why not try one of these raspberry based recipes:
Raspberry cupcakes
Raspberry muffins
White chocolate and raspberry cheesecake
Raspberry and white chocolate scones
Raspberry blondies
Raspberry flapjacks
Raspberry and white chocolate muffins
Raspberry and white chocolate loaf cake

Useful equipment

You might need the following baking tools/gadgets to make this raspberry sponge cake

Digital scales
Freestanding mixer
Mixing bowl
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Cake tins
Serving plate
Wire rack

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Difficulty: Easy
Time: 20 minutes + 25 minutes baking
Serves: 12

Ingredients

For the raspberry sponges

225g (1 + 2 tbsp) caster sugar
225g (1 3/4 cups) self-raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
225g (1 cup) baking spread or butter
4 eggs
200g (1 1/2 cupsaspberries

For the lemon buttercream
200g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
400g (2 3/4 cups) icing sugar / confectioners sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons lemon juice

To decorate:
Fresh raspberries
Freeze dried raspberries (optional)

*If you don’t have any self raising flour, swap it for an equal amount of plain or all purpose flour and add 2 teaspoons of baking powder.

How to make a raspberry sponge cake

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan and prepare your tins

Get your child to use some butter to grease the sides and base of 2 x 20cm/8in loose bottomed or spring-form cake tins. Line the bottom of each tin with a circle of baking or parchment paper.

Add all the cake ingredients to a mixing bowl

One of the great things about the all in one method of making a cake is that it doesn’t matter what order you add everything. All you need to do is get your kids to measure all the ingredients out and then add them to a large mixing bowl or a free-standing mixer. Having said that, you’re less likely to miss anything out if you follow the order of the list of ingredients.

Start by getting your kids measure out the sugar, flour and baking powder and add them to your mixer. When they’re measuring out the baking powder, make sure your kids level top of the teaspoon with their finger, so you add just the right amount.

Add the baking spread/margarine or butter. If you’re using butter it needs to be room temperature soft. If yours isn’t (we always forget to take it out of the fridge beforehand), you can cut it into a few pieces before popping it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it, but not long enough to melt it. But, if, like us you’re using a baking spread you can simply add that straight into your bowl.

Next, get your kids to crack the eggs into a small bowl, then add them to your mixing bowl/free-standing mixer. We tend to break them into a small bowl first before adding them to our mixing bowl just in case any shell goes in.

If/when a little bit does go you can use a larger piece of shell to fish it out. Small pieces of shell can be slippery and hard to get out with your finger, but should stick better to other, larger pieces of shell.

Mix everything together

Using a hand held mixer, the k-paddle of your free-standing mixer, (or even wooden spoons), mix everything together until the batter is nice and smooth and there are no big lumps of flour or butter showing. You might need to get your kids to scrape down the sides of your mixing bowl with a spatula to make sure everything is mixed in.

Stop once everything is well mixed, it shouldn’t take long, so ensure you don’t over mix it or it won’t end up light and fluffy.

Add the raspberries

Get your kids to measure the raspberries out and add a spoon or two of flour. Stir the flour through so it coats the raspberries nicely.

Add the raspberries to your cake batter but avoid adding too much excess flour if you can. Stir them in gently with a spatula or wooden spoon until they are evenly dispersed.

Bake your raspberry sponges

Get your kids to divide the raspberry cake batter equally between each of your prepared cake tins. You can judge it by eye and try to add the same number of spoons, but if you want to be really accurate and have digital scales, set your cake tins on your scales and weigh them as you add the batter.

Use the back of a spoon or a spatula to gently spread the batter to the edges of each cake tin and smooth down the surface of each of your cakes.

Bake each cake on the middle shelf of your oven for 20-25 minutes. They’re ready when they have risen, the edges are coming away from the tins and if you press gently down in the middle it should spring back.

If you’ve used frozen raspberries you might need to add 5 minutes or so on to your baking time. Use the tips below to judge when it’s cooked through.

To double check the middle is baked properly insert a skewer or cocktail stick into the centre. If it comes out clean your cake it ready. If a little cake batter is on your skewer/stick, pop it back in the oven for a few more minutes. Remove your raspberry sponges from the oven and leave them to cool for a few minutes in their tins before taking the cakes out of the tins and placing them on wire rack to cool completely.

Make the lemon buttercream

Get your child to measure out the butter and icing / confectioners sugar and put them in your free-standing mixer or a large mixing bowl. Again, if the butter isn’t soft pop it in your microwave for a few seconds to soften it but not long enough to melt it.

Using the k-paddle of your free-standing mixer or a hand held mixer, slowly beat the icing/confectioners sugar and butter together.

Get your kids to help juice a lemon, and add 2-3 tablespoons of the lemon juice then beat it until the mixture is smooth and creamy. The longer you whip it for, the lighter and fluffier it will end up.

Assemble your raspberry sponge cake

Put one of your cakes onto a serving plate top side down, (if one sponge looks better than the other, save that one to put on top).

Get your kids to help you spread the lemon buttercream on top of the sponge using a palette knife or spatula and add some fresh raspberries. Or if you want to be a bit fancier, you can pipe it on with a piping bag. We spread it on as no one really sees that bit but piped it more neatly around the outside.

Place the other sponge on top and decorate it with more swirls of lemon buttercream, some fresh raspberries and/or freeze dried raspberry pieces.

Serve and enjoy.