Gluten-free Victoria Sandwich Cake

This is very much a quick, no-frills affair: utter simplicity and great flavour; what more is needed? The cake takes literally a couple of minutes to mix together, about 20 minutes baking and a few minutes to assemble the cooled sponges.

A no-frills cake; simplicity at its best!

This cake is softer than a cake made with traditional flour and crumbles more easily, but I find it holds together very well when sliced and eaten. It doesn’t really need extras in it that you often have with gluten-free baking to bind it together.

Top decorating tip

Freeze the cooled cake and fill it and/or cover it while frozen, leaving the cake to defrost in the fridge.

As with traditional cakes, the freezing ensures you don’t get crumbs everywhere and there is no risk of the cake breaking, particularly if your filling is quite firm: but the filling should ideally be very soft.

The filling

The filling here is whipped double cream, slightly sweetened with some vanilla icing sugar, and chopped strawberries. The top is dusted with vanilla icing sugar.

Ideas for further cakes or decorating cakes are on my post here.

A light sponge

This gluten-free cake, using the all-in-one method is very light and melt-in-the-mouth and eats very easily! I added some finely grated lemon zest to the mixture: it really lifts a sponge such as this in a subtle way.

You can go for the classic creamed method: I have given the recipe for that underneath the main recipe.

If making the cake non-gluten-free, only mix the ingredients until it just comes together for the lightest sponge: over-beating will develop the gluten in the flour, thereby making the cake heavier.

A gluten-free cake sponge: makes a 6″ cake with generous depth

• 3 large free-range eggs (at room temperature)
• 175g very soft unsalted butter
• 175g gluten-free self-raising flour
• 1.5 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
• 175g caster sugar
• finely grated zest of one large lemon, optional

(1) Grease and base-line two 6″ sandwich tins and preheat the oven to 160C(fan).

(2) Put the cake ingredients – making sure they are at room temperature – into a bowl and beat well with a wooden spoon until incorporated: it will only take a minute or so. As the flour is gluten-free there is no danger of over-beating the mixture!

(3) Transfer to the cake tins and bake for about 20 minutes until well risen, light golden brown and the cakes are just coming away from the sides. Leave to cool for a few minutes in their tins and invert to a cooling rack until completely cold. Peel off the greaseproof.

Gluten-free Victoria Sandwich cakes

(4) Sandwich together with whatever you like: jam, cream, buttercream, fruit curd………..

Using the creamed method:

If you want to make it the classic creamed method, beat the butter and sugar with an electric whisk on high for several minutes until very pale and light, with the caster sugar dissolved so there is no grainy feel.

Beat the eggs well and add a little at a time (no more than a tablespoon) , whisking for several moments until incorporated. Repeat until the egg has been used.

NB: IF it starts to curdle, add a tablespoon of flour and whisk, which will stabilise it.

Finally fold in the flour with a large metal spoon, going right into the base of the bowl, until there are no visible pockets of flour left. It is now ready to divide between the tins.

Author: Philip

Finalist on Britain’s Best Home Cook (BBC Television 2018). Published recipe writer with a love of growing fruit & veg, cooking, teaching and eating good food. View all posts by Philip