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asked August 15th 2013

Covering a Victoria sponge with fondant

Would a Victoria sponge be strong enough to be covered in fondant and made as a tiered cake or is it better to use a Madeira?

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Would a Victoria sponge be strong enough to be covered in fondant and made as a tiered cake or is it better to use a Madeira?

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Hi clan

Depends which tier it’s going to be. Personally I don’t think the weight of the icing would do it any good. I think a madeira or a more dense sponge like this http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10860/easy-vanilla-cake would be better. That small amount of plain flour makes a lot of difference to the density if you don’t want to do a madeira. I know some people do use victoria sponge recipe, I wouldn’t be happy with it. I’m sure other members will add their thoughts.

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I regularly use Victoria sponge and have never had any problems before. The largest I hauve done all Victoria sponge is a 12-10-8″ 3 tier and there were no problems whatsoever with the weight. I guess like anything though it could vary depending on your individual recipe and how thin you roll your sugarpaste out. I do let my cakes settle overnight too. Good luck.

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Leanne, when you say that you let your cakes settle do you mean you cover them in buttercream and leave them to crust before covering them in fondant?

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I would also like to know if you cover the Victoria sponge in buttercream before applying fondant? Is buttercream the best covering to use on a Victoria sponge if you want to then apply fondant and decorate. Many thanks, Penny

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Hi Penny

Cakes can be crumb coated with buttercream if that is what you prefer. Use a crusting BC recipe or use royal icing, icing sugar instead of normal icing sugar. RI sugar contains egg white powder which helps the crusting. A quick google search will yield lots of recipes from which to choose from.

Adding a little ganache to BC will also help it to crust over. That information is contained in my buttercream blog here:

Buttercream covering and filling guide

Hope suggestions help. ?

ps:
Some Victoria sponge recipes are very light and not suitable to take the weight of fondant. Mrs Jones’ recipe asks to increase the flour by an extra 10% to strengthen the texture for enrobing.

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