Full question
I need a larger Victoria Sponge cake for a party and thought I had ordered 2 x 10-inch pans but have received one pan 10 x 2 inches! It is too late to reorder, how can I adapt the recipe as will have to bake one layer at a time? If I do the recipe with 1.5 times more will the pan be too deep?
Our answer
Nigella's Victoria Sponge is a classic vanilla sponge cake that has two layers and is sandwiched with jam and whipped cream. It is baked in two 20cm (8-inch) sandwich tins, which would be known as cake pans in the US. Most tins and pans are around 5cm (2 inches) deep, so we do not think that the depth of the pan will be a particular issue. However, you would need to increase the overall ingredients quantities by 1.5 times to make a two-layer sponge cake and it can be slightly more difficult to get this size of cake to bake evenly in a domestic oven.
If you only have one cake pan then you need to multiply the ingredients quantities by 0.75 (which is 1.5x and then divided by 2) to get the ingredients needed for one layer of the sponge. So for one layer you need 170g each butter and caster (superfne) sugar, 150g plain (all-purpose) flour, 19g cornflour (cornstarch), 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder, 3 eggs and 1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons milk. The oven temperature should remain the same and the baking time is likely to be around 35 minutes, but keep and eye on the cake after 30 minutes. The cake is done when it is risen, firm to the touch, the sides of the cake are slightly pulling away from the pan and a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean. Don't open the oven too early to check as this may cause the cake to sink in the centre. Please note that as we have not tried a 10-inch Victoria Sponge ourselves, we are unable to guarantee the results.
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