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I baked a Victoria chocolate sponge cake. It did not turn to be a sponge cake at all. I wouldn't call it hard, but it was definitely not a moist cake. It was kind of fudgy (but it won't pass off for a fudge cake either).

I was wondering if I could replace the butter with oil and also add milk to give me a nice moist chocolate cake. If I could, can I replace the amount of butter I used with 80% oil and 20% milk. Will that work??

Please help.

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  • If you want a chocolate cake get a chocolate cake recipe, there's no need to morph a recipe when there's a hundred good ones already.
    – GdD
    Commented Nov 2, 2015 at 10:04
  • Getting a victoria sponge cake right rarely happens the first time, but it's worth keeping at it as you will learn a great deal about baking which will transfer to other cakes
    – GdD
    Commented Nov 2, 2015 at 10:05

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You have attempted one of the most precise baking exercises of all... The Victorian sponge. I personally prefer to use Delia Smith's recipe. It make for a super light sponge. To make it "right" ensure that your butter and your eggs are at room temperature. My ingredients (pardon my metric) are as follows...

  • 225 g Butter (8 oz)
  • 225 g Caster Sugar (8 oz)
  • 4 x Medium Eggs
  • 175 g Self-Raising Flour (6 oz) Sieved
  • 50 g Cocoa Powder (2 oz)

If I deviate from this I am sure to end up with pancakes... Make sure that you sieve your flour well... It needs lots of air.

Chocolate cake on the other hand is a completely different monster.

  • 150 g self-raising flour, sifted
  • 50 g cocoa, sifted
  • 220 g caster sugar
  • 80 g butter, softened
  • 125 ml milk
  • 2 x eggs lightly beaten

Its a much heavier recipe; less SR Flour, more mechanical integration (4 minutes instead of one; more moisture in the form of milk; less eggs...

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  • This was exactly the same recipe that I used. First I creamed the butter and sugar. Then added eggs. Then added the flour and cocoa powder ( I did sieve both flour and cocoa and then added to the batter). I also made sure I dint over beat the mixture. But not sure why it did not come out well. So looking for alternatives to this. I really want to bake a nice moist chocolate cake.
    – daffodil lavendar
    Commented Nov 1, 2015 at 23:02
  • Another problem that I have had with sponge cake before is that beet and other non cane based sugars have given me varied results. To this day I have never been 100% happy with some of the sponges that were made with other sugars. Use my chocolate cake base recipe... For extra moisture, I have sometimes used a single serve container of ready made chocolate pudding or the contents of a chocolate pudding mix with 1/2 liquid quantities... Makes for a very rich and moist pudding.
    – Adrian Hum
    Commented Nov 1, 2015 at 23:30

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