Making mini Victoria sponges
I can use food skills to make mini Victoria sponges.
Making mini Victoria sponges
I can use food skills to make mini Victoria sponges.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.
These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- The Victoria sponge, also known as cake, was named after Queen Victoria, and was popular with afternoon tea.
- Cakes rise due to the action of creaming butter and sugar together, and the use of self-raising flour and beaten eggs.
- The food skills used to make a cake are measuring, creaming, folding, portioning, using an oven and spreading.
- Cakes baked in smaller tins and cases cook more quickly as the heat can transfer more easily.
- Discrimination tests rate the intensity of sensory attributes and can be used to compare similar dishes.
Keywords
Queen Victoria - queen of the UK from 1837 to 1901
Discrimination tests - tests to rate the intensity of sensory attributes or compare similar foods
Sponge - a sweet, soft baked food, usually made with sugar, butter, flour and eggs
Folding - mixing in flour through the action of cutting and turning the mixture using a spoon
Creaming - to work two ingredients into a smooth paste
Common misconception
A sponge and cake are the same.
Often the term ‘sponge’ and ‘cake’ are used interchangeably. However, sponges are traditionally made from eggs, flour and sugar (no butter), e.g. Swiss roll, and cakes are made from eggs, flour, sugar and butter, e.g. lemon drizzle cake.
To help you plan your year 8 cooking and nutrition lesson on: Making mini Victoria sponges, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 8 cooking and nutrition lesson on: Making mini Victoria sponges, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 cooking and nutrition lessons from the Local food to worldwide cuisine unit, dive into the full secondary cooking and nutrition curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
File needed for this lesson
- Victoria sponge - Task 2 - Discrimination test 277 KB (XLS)
Download this file to use in the lesson.
Equipment
For ingredients and equipment see the recipe in additional materials.
Content guidance
- Risk assessment required - may contain allergens
- Risk assessment required - equipment
Supervision
Adult supervision required
Licence
Starter quiz
6 Questions
wheat
dairy cow
chicken
cane or beet
sugar and fruit
cake, cookies
pasta, rice
chicken, potatoes
vegetables, tofu
carrots, swede
bread
Exit quiz
6 Questions
two layers, with jam
as it is finer than granulated sugar
help the sponge to rise
is traditionally used
cook quicker

the main structure.
helping the sponges rise.
the sponge together.
and the sugar preserves the jam.