What's the secret of a light, fluffy sponge cake?

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I've just made yet another disappointing sponge. I can't blame it on the oven any longer - it must be me I'd love some pointers! I use the 4oz sugar/butter/flour / 2 eggs method, I cream the sugar and butter til it's light and smooth and I fold in the flour carefully. But they hardly rise, and they're kind of crispy round the edges. I used to be able to make a decent sponge cake, and I don't know where I'm going wrong!

I have this problem too. I preheat the oven properly and it still goes wrong.

If you have a slow cooker, do it in there. I was sceptical at first but now I wouldn't do it any other way. So light, moist and.. spongey. Lovely.

Gordon's Victoria beckham sponge is good

Same as you do but 8 oz of everything and 4 eggs

I stopped using the block of butter and now use lurpak spreadable, seems to have made a difference.

Have you changed your oven since you used to be able to make a decent sponge? Are you using too big a tin to too little ingredients? Are you using a little bit of baking powder in addition to SR flour? Do you add a little bit of milk to loosen the mix slightly?

My method never fails (I say mine, it's actually the WI's!)

Weigh three eggs in their shell and then use equal amounts of fat, flour and sugar. Chuck it all in a bowl together and mix. the more air you get in there the lighter it will be. I tend to mix it for longer than it probably needs. (This way you don't risk losing any air through folding.)

I also think using oil rather than butter makes a cake lighter.

Butter should be mayonnaise-consistency. I think Mary Berry says she prefers baking spread to butter as it's the right consistency for creaming. I use real butter that I sit on the radiator (on a plate) or soften in the microwave for a bit.

Mine have been much lighter since I started using a hand mixer. Was about £10 from tesco.

Thanks for everyone's input! I will try to answer questions...

I don't have a slow cooker currently but I'm planning to get one, so I will definitely give it a try when I get the chance! Is it the same recipe otherwise?

This is a different oven from the one I used to cook with, but they are both fan ovens. It's been a long time since then though.

I'm interested in people saying don't use butter - I think I used to use margarine, but I thought butter would give a better flavour. Maybe that's the problem? I did leave the butter out overnight though, so it was pretty soft.

I didn't use extra baking powder, just ordinary self raising flour.

Tin... Maybe my tin is too big. I'm not sure what size it is, I just threw everything in . Maybe I'm doing several things wrong!

My fail safe ingredients are 6oz each of flour, sugar and Stork. 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 2 eggs. Chuck the lot in a mixer, whizz for a bit. Cook at 180/gas mark 6 for about half hour. Voila. Never fails, except for when I've used ingredients that are not quite their best.

could be the size of the tin - my friends used to be astonished at the size of my cakes but I was just using large sandwich tins and doubling up the mixture! If you are only using 4oz of everything then that needs a small sandwich tin. If you only have one size tin try doubling the ingredients and I bet you have a much nicer cake. yum yum

Cream the butter and sugar into oblivion. On high speed, for about 5 minutes. It should be light in colour and fluffy. Basically cream it for way longer than you think you should.

And reduce the temperature in the oven. You'll have to cook it for longer but the edges won't burn and it should rise more evenly.

A 2 egg sponge won't rise very high in any size pan. I'd use at least 3 or 4 eggs (and equivalent weight in flour, sugar and butter) for a standard 8 inch tin.

Check how old the self raising flour is. Apparently older flour and old baking powder doesn't rise as well.

Hope that helps

I'm going to try again! I'll do 6oz/ 3 eggs, cream for longer, baking powder (my sr flour probably is a bit old). I don't have a mixer, but I might try one in the future (and the slow cooker!). I've only got butter, but I'll try another time with margarine and see if that makes a difference. Fingers crossed!

I can't cream butter and sugar whatever I use - stork, butter, ICBINB etc. It doesn't get lighter and fluffier it gets smaller and greasier and that's it. I've given up using baking powder as I can really taste it. Last time I just whizzed the butter and sugar for a small amount of time - just blended it really then added flour then folded from there and the cake was better than the times I've stood there till eternity trying to make my butter and sugar pale, fluffy and no longer gritty!

This is the best and easiest Victoria Sponge I have ever done, always gets lots of compliments. It is from the Primrose Cupcake book:

225g Butter, soft
225g caster sugar
210g self raising flour
25g cornflour
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons semi skimmed milk, room temperature

I put the first 5 ingredients in the food processor, on the blade, all at once. Pulse for a few seconds only, till it is mixed. Then slowly add the eggs, milk and vanilla, again for a couple of seconds.

Two 20cm tins, bake for 25 mins at gas mark 4, 160 fan.

I think the cornflour makes a difference. Works really well for lemon sponge too.

I have a Kmix that I use for all other cakes.

Sorry for the tangent, but how do you make a cake in a slow cooker?

I use the same method as you but I would say that two eggs worth of mix would only do one layer of a victoria sandwich.
For two layers use twice the mixture.

I find the recipe from the great british bake off the best. It is a 3 egg receipe.

Make sure your eggs are at room temperature as well as the butter (and make sure the room temp that they are at is about 20deg, not good just being out overnight if your house is 10deg all night).

As an ex baker I would never use butter in a sponge always soft margarine (stork) is the best. Make sure you cream with the sugar until almost white. Then add tiny bits of egg in and eventually fold in the dry ingredients.

Would agree that a 6 or even 8oz recipe would probably solve your problem. Mary Berry was on TV yesterday in a repeat of a GBBO masterclass and was saying that she thinks the all in one method is better. The recipe is here

For 2 x 8" tins use 8oz flour/stork/sugar and 4 eggs.. easy to remember.

Are you using self raising flour, and is it fresh ish? The raising agent loses power over time.

Also, is the oven working to the right temperature? Do you have an oven thermometer that you could check it with?

I also want to know how to do a cake in the slow cooker!

Tin.
If your tin isn't the right size it all goes wrong.

8 oz Sr flour, sugar, spread. Half teaspoon baking powder, 4 eggs and a splash of milk.

Bung it all in the mixer and turn on, et voila.