Strawberry sponge cake

Name: Strawberry sponge cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 55 min
Ingredients: 50 g strawberries; 1 tablespoon lemon juice; 1 tablespoon caster sugar; 225 g (1 cup + 2 tbsp) caster sugar; 225 g (1 ¾ cups) self-raising flour; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 225 g (1 cup) baking spread or butter; 4 eggs; 300 ml double / whipping cream; 2 - 3 tablespoons icing / confectioners sugar; 50 g strawberries; Fresh strawberries

This strawberry sponge cake is light, fluffy and full of delicious burst of fresh strawberry. Best of all, this is a really simple recipe making it the perfect bake for kids and beginner bakers alike.

This strawberry sponge cake is everything a good Victoria sponge should be, light, fluffy and moist but full of fresh strawberries and decorated with a delicious sweetened strawberry cream filling.

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 strawberries and sweetened cream filling takes it to the next level and makes it feel more special.

It’s the perfect fruity summer bake.

How can kids help to make a strawberry sponge cake?

This strawberry sponge cake recipe is so easy to do and uses the ‘all in one’ method which makes it a great, simple 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.

Your kids can also help to prepare the strawberries. They need to be hulled and cut into small pieces. As a really soft fruit, they are a great way for your kids to be able to practice their knife skills.

This recipe contains 4 eggs which means 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 cake 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 sweetened whipped cream between cake layers as well as adding some on top. And even young children will be able to help add some fresh strawberry decorations on top.

What is the ‘all in one method’?

The all-in-one method is my favourite way of baking a cake 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 sponge.

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

Why isn’t my sponge light and fluffy?

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

You should also check that you’ve used the correct raising agents and that they are in date. 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, (in the UK Stork is a well known 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.

Should I use fresh or frozen strawberries?

Fresh strawberries work better in this cake as frozen strawberries can make it a bit soggy.

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

Before you add the strawberries 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.

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
Raspberry sponge cake

And if you have any left over strawberries, why not try one of these strawberry based recipes:

Strawberry cupcakes
Eton mess cupcakes
Strawberry cheesecake
Strawberry crumble
Easy homemade strawberry jam
Strawberry cookies
Strawberry muffins
Strawberry shortcake

Useful equipment

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

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

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.. You will not be charged anything extra for this. Please refer to my Privacy Policy Page for more details.

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

Ingredients

For the strawberries
50g strawberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon caster sugar

For the strawberry 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

For the cream icing
300ml double / whipping cream
2 – 3 tablespoons icing / confectioners sugar
50g strawberries

To decorate
Fresh strawberries

*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 strawberry sponge cake

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

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

Macerate the strawberries

Get your kids to hull and cut the strawberries into small pieces then put them in a small bowl with the lemon juice and caster sugar. Set them aside to macerate while you make the sponge batter.

Add all the cake ingredients to a mixing bowl

One of the great things I love about using the all in one method to bake a cake is that everything just gets mixed together in one bowl, so you can add all the ingredients in any order.

To make sure we don’t miss anything out however, we prefer to add everything in the order they are listed.

Start by getting your kids measure out the dry ingredients (sugar, flour and baking powder) and add them to the bowl of a free-standing mixer or a large mixing bowl. When your kids are measuring out the baking powder, make sure they level the 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 it. If you’re using butter it needs to be soft enough to be able to mix in. 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. Don’t zap it for too long – you don’t want it to melt. We used baking spread – if you do too you can simply add that straight into your mixing bowl.

Next, get your kids to crack the eggs into a small bowl before adding 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 or a teaspoon 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 the k-paddle of your free-standing mixer, a hand held mixer or even wooden spoons mix all the ingredients together until the batter is nice and smooth. You might need to get your kids to scrape down the sides of your mixing bowl with a spatula to make sure there are no lumps of flour hiding at the bottom.

Once the batter has come together stop mixing. Be sure you don’t over mix it or you cake won’t end up light and fluffy. It shouldn’t take too long.

Add the strawberries

Drain any excess liquid from your strawberries, then stir a tablespoon of flour through so it coats the strawberries nicely.

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

Bake your strawberry sponges

Get your kids to divide the strawberry cake batter equally between each of your prepared cake tins. You can either 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, a spatula or a palette knife to gently spread the batter to the edges of each cake tin and then smooth down the surface of each of your sponges.

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 want 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 cakes from the oven and leave them to cool for a few minutes in their tins before taking them out of the tins and placing them on wire rack to cool completely.

Make the strawberry cream icing

Get your child to add the cream to a mixing bowl or your free-standing mixer. Add 2-3 tablespoons of icing / confectioners sugar to your mixing bowl.

Using the whisk attachment of your free-standing mixer, a hand held mixer, or whisks slowly whip the cream until it forms soft peaks which means if you remove the whisk from the cream it should be thick enough to hold very briefly, before flopping back down on itself again.

Add the strawberries

Get your kids to hull the strawberries and cut them into small pieces.

Put half of your whipped cream into a separate bowl and add the strawberries. Stir them through.

Assemble your strawberry 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 whipped cream with strawberries on top of the sponge using a palette knife or spatula.

Place the other sponge on top and decorate it with the remaining cream and some fresh strawberries.

Serve and enjoy.