Simply Adorable Mini Victoria Sponges

The little mini Victoria sponge cakes I made for a recently gallery opening were hands down the item I got most compliments on, so I decided to share the recipe on how I made them. Its pure simple really, just using my basic cake mix I use for most of my muffin recipes and a couple of cheats. These little puppies shouldn't take more than 20 minutes from start to finish. You can obviously make regular size buns also in place of the mini ones, just increase your timing in the oven to 20 minutes.

Makes approx 45 mini cakes

Ingredients

• 225g plain flour
• 1 tbsp of baking powder
• 140g of caster sugar
• 1 large free range egg
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 75g of melted butter
• 170ml of full fat milk

To decorate

• Whipped fresh cream (shop bought)
• Strawberry or Raspberry jam (shop bought)
• Icing sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a mini muffin tray with some bun cases.
2. In a mixing sieve together the plain flour, baking powder and the sugar.
3. In a jug mix together the egg, milk, butter, and vanilla extract.
4. Make a well in the centre of the flour mix and pour in your wet ingredients and combine fully, careful not to over mix.
5. Using teaspoons, fill the bun cases three quarters of the way up and try to flatten them with a metal spoon.
6. Place the tray in the oven for 10-11 minutes.
7. Place the buns on a wire rack when baked and allow to cool for a few minutes.
8. Once cool remove the buns from their casing (they will stick to the paper if still too warm).
9. Cut the buns in half horizontally.
10. Using a butter knife, spread a layer of cream on the bottom half of the bun and follow that with a small dollop of jam.
11. Place the bun into a new bun case and sprinkle liberally with icing sugar.

(Note: My mini muffin tray only takes 24 cases, but as the buns take no more than 10 minutes to bake I refilled the tray with the remaining batter once the first round had come out. Normally I wouldn't do this as the baking powder has been activiated and the mixture could become stiff, but 10 minutes didn't seem to do the batter any harm. Alternatively you could make a couple of regular size buns with the remaining batter if you like. Just remember to give them an extra 10 minutes in the oven.)

These little buns are sure to become a new tea party favourite for me.