Healthier Victoria sandwich
See this recipe step by step

Healthier Victoria sandwich

The classic tea time sponge cake is given a healthy makeover to slash the fat by half without losing any of the taste

Difficulty and servings

Easy

CUTS INTO 8 slices

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 25 mins

Cook time

Cook 20 mins

Freezable

FREEZE unfilled

Method

  1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Lightly oil 2 x 18cm sandwich cake tins (preferably loose-bottomed) and line the bases with baking parchment. Tip the flour, baking powder, caster sugar and ground almonds into a large mixing bowl, then make a well in the centre. Beat the eggs in a bowl, then stir in the yogurt and vanilla. Pour this mixture, along with the melted butter and oil, into the dry mixture (step 1) and stir briefly together with a large metal spoon until well combined.
  2. Divide the mixture evenly between the 2 tins (step 2) and level the tops. Bake both cakes, side by side, for 20 mins until risen and beginning to come away slightly from the edges of the tins.
  3. Remove the cakes from the oven and loosen the sides with a round-bladed knife. Let the cakes cool briefly in the tins, then turn them out. If the tins are loose-bottomed, an easy way is to sit the tin on an upturned jam jar and let the outer ring of the tin drop down (step 3). Peel off the lining paper and sit the cakes on a wire rack. Leave until completely cold.
  4. Put one of the cakes on a serving plate and spread over the conserve (step 4). Put the other cake on top and sift over the icing sugar, or make a pattern (see tip below).
Try

MAKE IT DECORATIVE

Instead of just dusting the top with icing sugar, create a pattern of your choice by making a paper template. Lay the template on the cake, dust with icing sugar, then carefully lift off the template to reveal the design.

HOW WE MADE IT HEALTHIER

By reducing the eggs to lower the fat, reducing the butter and using yogurt and rapeseed oil as substitutes, to lower fat, especially saturated fat. We also cut down on the amount of sugar.

PER SLICE

263 kcalories, protein 5.6g, carbohydrate 39g, fat 9.3 g, saturated fat 2.8g, fibre 1.3g, sugar 24.1g, salt 0.6 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, August 2012.

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Latest comments and suggestions

  • Binder photo HeidiK

    29 August 2012

    HeidiK rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Very nice cake. I made it into butterfly buns and it worked very well. Not quite the same texture as a traditional recipe sponge but still really good.

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  • Binder photo Viv

    13 October 2012

    Viv rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    I was pleasantly surprised by the texture and taste and overall this wasnt at all bad! I had made this cake for my husband (whose fav. cake is a classic Vic.Sandwich), his overall comment gave the cake about 7 out of 10 which I suppose is pretty good? As he is at high risk of Type II Diabetes I thought I would try and cut down the fat content when making cakes. As you can see from my profile picture, it depicts a classic Vic. Sandwich with butter icing AND jam; I put home-made Raspberry Jam into the lower fat one and thought it helped it along? As I have a very sensitive palate, I thought that I could detect an underlying flavour which I assume was the Rapeseed oil, nevertheless, a very good substitute!

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  • Binder photo katyabird

    25 December 2012

    katyabird commented on this recipe

    I am in america and lousy at math. is there a way to get the recipes in my unit of measure? Also I have heard the eggs in america are much bigger than UK because we feed the chickens so many chemicals, doesn't anyone know if this is true?

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  • Binder photo Low Fat

    10 February 2013

    Low Fat commented on this recipe

    Overall this tasted very nice. The texture was lovely and light. It smelled gorgeous when it was cooking in the oven. You can taste the rapeseed oil but only very slightly. I would definitely make it again. Regarding the previous writers comment about American eggs, in my experience I don't believe they are a different size, however the only difference I've ever noticed is the common American egg has pure white shells and tend to come from caged hens.

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  • Binder photo Kir

    16 February 2013

    Kir rated and commented on this recipe

    2 stars

    My son and I love it - he is 14 and 5ft 11 fairly fussy but a very sweet tooth so I tried this to pacify him - it worked. He really likes it. Thank you.

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  • Binder photo caroline

    26 April 2013

    caroline rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I thought this was good but not fantastic. The sponge tasted underdone and very almondy.

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

CUTS INTO 8 slices

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 25 mins

Cook time

Cook 20 mins

Freezable

FREEZE unfilled

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp rapeseed oil , plus extra for the tin
  • 175g self-raising flour
  • 1½ tsp baking powder
  • 140g golden caster sugar
  • 25g ground almonds
  • 2 large eggs
  • 175g natural yogurt
  • 2-3 drops vanilla extract
  • 25g butter , melted
  • 4 tbsp raspberry conserve
  • ½ tsp icing sugar , to decorate
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PER SLICE

263 kcalories, protein 5.6g, carbohydrate 39g, fat 9.3 g, saturated fat 2.8g, fibre 1.3g, sugar 24.1g, salt 0.6 g

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