Mini Victoria Sponge Cakes (A Taste of Britain)

Today I’m sharing a taste of Britain with you, a quintessential dessert that has been enjoyed at tea time for ages.  Exquisitely rich buttercream and jam are sandwiched between two delicately soft and buttery sponge cakes.  This version comes in miniature form of the traditional full-sized cake, allowing you to conveniently pop mini bites of heaven into your mouth over and over…and over.And while we’re on the subject of “mini”, how about starting with a brief history lesson?
British afternoon tea, a tradition going back many generations.  Its origins trace back to Queen Victoria and Anna the Duchess of Bedford who served as her lady-in-waiting (ie, personal assistant) for 10 years.

During her service to the Queen, Anna discovered that every day around late afternoon she would experience what we now recognize today as carb cravings.  So she started a personal tradition of setting aside that time of day with her servants to enjoy a cup of tea to help wash down a few sweet indulgences to hold her over until dinner.  The idea gained popularity (no surprise!) and before long she began inviting guests to join her.  Queen Victoria also began hosting lavish tea parties and guests were expected to attend wearing formal attire.   Soon a whole spectrum of tea-time desserts made their way into British food culture.  The cream-jam filled sponge cakes became Queen Victoria’s favorites and they were named after her.So what it comes down to, this long-held tradition of afternoon tea is simply the perfect excuse to indulge your sweet tooth in the middle of the day. But indulging in the guise of “afternoon tea” manages to turn what would otherwise be a primal-driven physiological carb-craving response into something refined and…”proper.”And that works for me.

Ingredients

• 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 sticks quality butter ,room temperature
• 1 cup Tate+Lyle® Organic Pure Cane Sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs

For the Filling:

• 1 stick quality butter ,room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk ,plus more as needed
• Good quality strawberry or raspberry jam

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter a nonstick mini cheesecake pan.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar for 4-5 minutes. Add the vanilla extract. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each until incorporated. Using a rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the wet mixture until incorporated. Be careful not to over-stir or the cakes will be dense.
4. Spoon the batter into the mini cheesecake cups to the halfway point. Bake on the middle oven rack for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean.
5. Allow the cakes to sit in the cupcake pan for a couple of minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. To make the buttercream filling, beat together the butter, powdered sugar and milk until smooth. If the buttercream is too stiff, add a tiny amount of milk until a spreadable consistency is reached. If it's too runny, add more powdered sugar. Spoon the buttercream into a piping bag with a medium or large round tip.
7. Once the cakes have cooled completely, slice them in half.

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