The classic and elegant Victoria Sponge Cake gets a low carb, gluten-free makeover. This healthy keto dessert is a must-make.
Are you a Downton Abbey fan or do you think it’s the Masterpiece Theater equivalent of a fluffy meaningless soap opera? I don’t really care what the critics may say, I am addicted. Regardless of increasingly complicated plot lines and lack of significant historical commentary, I can’t take my eyes off the show and the characters. I adore them all, even the villainous Thomas and all his machinations. We DVR it every week so we can watch it at our leisure. Which means that I haven’t yet seen the season finale from last night and I will kill you if you spoil the ending for me. I am not making idle threats!
I have a long-standing love of British period pieces, both written and filmed, and it hardly matters what period we’re talking about. Growing up, our bookshelves were filled with classic novels and being an avid reader, I was devouring them all at quite a young age. Thomas Hardy, DH Lawrence, Dickens, The Bronte sisters, George Eliot, W. Somerset Maugham, E.M. Forster; anything from Jane Austen forward, I was reading. I probably didn’t understand some of the more complicated portions and I certainly didn’t understand the historical significance of these books, but I drank it all in, practically by osmosis. Sure, I read my fair share of Sweet Valley High and The Babysitters’ Club, but if it was British and written in a bygone era, I ate it up with a spoon.
So you can see why Downton is just the sort of television series I would like. I don’t have a lot of time for TV, but my husband and I like to pick a series to watch together and do “date nights”. We set our kids up with a movie and dinner downstairs while we repair to the other TV with plates of something delicious and a drink or two. We get ourselves really into it, discussing the characters like they are close friends. And every word that comes out of Dame Maggie Smith’s mouth quickly becomes quotable material for us. Recording it is important because we have to often stop and hit replay on a few of the more intense, or funny, scenes, just to enjoy them again.
And I am always eyeing Mrs. Patmore’s culinary creations. Even though good ol’ Queen Vic had passed by the time Downton Abbey takes place, I could easily see a Victoria Sponge being served to the Crawleys at tea time. They are such a simple and yet elegant cake. Most recipes use clotted cream, one of my favorite British treats, but I wasn’t about to go spend $7 a bottle (and I’d likely have needed two or three bottles for this cake). So I faked my own version by over-whipping heavy cream, which I’ve always noticed looks and tastes like clotted cream. And I have to give a shout out to my favorite brand of whipping cream, Organic Valley (no, I am not being paid for this, but oh man, I love the stuff). There are no fillers or gums or preservatives; it’s just straight up heavy cream from organic and mostly pastured cows. I easily go through two or three pints a week. One of the things I love about it is the clumpy stuff that often collects just at the top. No, my friends, that is not a sign the cream has gone bad. That’s the good thick, almost clotted cream rising to the very top. If you can’t manage to mix it back into the rest of the cream, grab a spoon and dig in. It’s delicious and far too good to waste!
Check out this post from The View from Great Island to make your own Homemade Clotted Cream.
Victoria Sponge Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 3 cups almond flour
- 1/3 cup whey protein powder
- 2 tsp grain-free baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup Swerve Sweetener
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup almond or cashew milk, unsweetened
Filling:
- 1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 tbsp confectioner’s Swerve Sweetener
- 1 cup raspberry chia seed jam
- 1 tsp confectioner's Swerve for dusting the cake
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 325F and grease 2 circular 9-inch cake pans very well (if your pans are not very non-stick, line them with circles of parchment and grease the parchment paper too). You can also use 8-inch round pans but your cake layers will take a little longer to bake.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, whey protein powder, baking powder and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat butter with sweetener until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time until well combined. Beat in vanilla extract.
- Beat in half of the almond flour mixture, then beat in nut milk. Beat in the remaining almond flour mixture until well combined. Divide batter between prepared cake pans and use a knife or offset spatula to smooth the top.
- Bake 18 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges and the top is just firm to the touch. Remove and let cool 10 minutes in pans, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Filling:
- Beat whipping cream with powdered sweetener past the "whipped cream" stage. It should not be smooth and homogenous-looking, but instead be a bit thicker and look somewhat clotted or clumpy. Do not keep beating after this or you will soon have butter.
- Place one cake layer on a serving platter and spread with chia seed jam. Spread the clotted cream over top of the jam and place the second cake layer on top.
- Dust powdered sweetener over top.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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Awesome recipe!!! Can I use liquid stevia extract instead of Swerve or do you need it for bulk?
You do need a bulk sweetener in this recipe.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe, Carolyn! I made the Victoria Sponge today for Easter, splurging on real clotted cream (!) and using your lemon curd recipe in place of the jam. Topped with a handful of fresh strawberries, it was delicious and a huge hit!
Sounds amazing!
Oh my, I just made this for Easter brunch. it is glorious!! I added orange extract to the cake and then filled it with sugar free cannoli cream. I am probably going to make two as the scavengers are eyeing it intently as I speak.
Love the addition of the orange extract!
This cake was simply amazing. I was an idiot and burned my raspberry jam (I get distracted easily) and had to make a blueberry/cranberry chia seed jam instead which was still very good. Once I put everything together, it was absolutely delicious. I took the cake to a women’s church party and didn’t tell anyone it was low carb (usually that turns people off for some reason). I managed to get one small slice before I turned around and saw a cluster of ladies all surrounding the cake and cutting into it as fast as possible. It was gone in seconds. Excellent recipe, Carolyn. Thank you so much! In fact, I think I’ll make it again tonight. One slice simply wasn’t enough.
What is the purpose of the protein powder? I have a lot of food allergies and cannot use it, but was thinking I could sub something for it instead if I knew the purpose it had in the recipe.
In the absence of gluten (which is a protein), a dry protein helps the baked goods rise and hold their shape. You can use powdered egg whites too.
Can you make this ahead? And I assume it must be kept refrigerated?
Yes, you could make this a day ahead. Or you can make the cake layers and wrap them in plastic wrap and keep them in the fridge for a few days before filling. The finished cake can be left on the counter for a few days just fine. If it lasts that long… 🙂
What a perfect afternoon tea cake.. you clearly have baked this victoria sponge to perfection. Looks divine.
Hey Carolyn! I was wondering, if I’m going to use powdered swerve in the cake, would the amount be different than what you have in the recipe? Like, is 3/4 cup of confectioners swerve more than 3/4 cup granulated? If so, what’s the conversion? I’m so excited to make this cake for my family next weekend! Thanks!
If I use confectioner’s in a cake or muffin, I usually use it in the same amount. It may not give you quite the same texture, since non-granulated won’t whip air bubbles into your butter. but it should turn out alright.
Thanks once again! Not only was your Victorian Sponge Cake a smashing success it was also suggested I make it again for Easter Dessert.
I made this cake last night and we are completely in love, my husband called me from work today and said babe this cake is absolutely delicious this is what I want you to make for me for now and on, Lol… I also made the raspberry filling and we all loved it, my son’s girlfriend came over and I offered some and she was skeptical and said no but I told her just try a bite and then she was like sorry but can I please have a piece? its delicious. Lol…. Thank you so much for sharing all your wonderful recipes.
That is just the best kind of testimonial ever. Thank you!
I just made this sponge cake last night. It was absolutely fabulous! It had the best texture of any low carb, grain free, sugar free cake that I’ve ever made. I served it to a bunch of ladies who are very skeptical about the way I eat and they even thought it was delicious. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Thanks, Elissa!
I realize you are going for low carb and totally appreciate that using sugar goes against that concept. That said, I’ve tried ALL the ‘tols and let us just say that they don’t agree with my body. I try to cut carbs in other ways (coconut and almond flours, almond milk, etc). If I were to make the recipe but use evaporated cane juice in place of Swerve, would it turn out? I am not familiar with the relationship between swerve and sugar and don’t want to assume it is 1 to 1. I realize using sugar will up the carbs so it will be a very occasional treat.
Swerve is meant to measure cup for cup like sugar so you can use a regular sugar in its place. In reality, you could probably use a little less cane juice to stay a little lower carb and it would still be sweet enough. My only concern here is that cane juice is liquid and you may throw off the liquid content of the cake. I’d cut down on the additional liquid by a bit.
Try allulose! I have had wonderful results with that. It’s 70% as sweet as sugar though, so I like to add 1/8 of a teaspoon of Stevia powder for every cup that I use. I just make it up ahead of time.
My Brit husband is gonna Fuh-reak! Thank you for this recipe!!!! Cheers!
Carolyn this looks wonderful I will be trying it soon. In 2000 I took a trip to London with my Mom and Sis, we had the best tasting cake I think it was called sticky toffee pudding cake. I wonder if you could work your magic on that recipe? Thanks for all your hard work.
This looks wonderful, Carolyn! I live in the UK and Victoria Sponge is the most popular cake for tea. My daughter and I love Downton too! She is away at university now so every Christmas we buy the DVD of the last season and spend a day watching the whole thing while wrapping presents! I love your recipes and even though I develop recipes too I recommend your site to my weight loss clients as a good resource for goodies. I even provide them with American cups and spoons so they follow your recipes more easily!
I was wondering if another protein powder would work…I can have butter, but most dairy is not my friend… 🙁 The whipping cream is easily subbed with coconut cream, but I just don’t know if a different type of protein powder would work instead of whey? Or if something other than protein powder would work as I really don’t understand all of the intricacies of LC baking yet.
Yes, use egg white protein powder. A brand called Deb El is what I use, found in the baking aisle of many grocery stores.
can i just use egg whites whisked? where i am from no stores are selling egg white protein powder . thanks
Nope, that throws of the wet to dry ratio.