victorian sponge cupcakes*

With all the royal wedding hoopla going on (don't get me wrong, I'm all for it... I have DVR-ed every single Royal Wedding documentary America has to offer) I've been thinking a lot about British food and entertaining.  One of my longtime favorites is the Victorian sponge cake, named after Queen Victoria since she loved to have a slice of sponge cake with her afternoon tea.  I decided to modernize the cake and adapted Delia Smith's "all in one sponge cake" recipe for Victorian sponge cupcakes... very suitable for an afternoon tea, don't you think?  These are unbelievably simple to make... you mix everything together and you're done!  One bowl, no folding... easy!


Oh, and take a look at my guest post on the SFMOMA Artists Gallery blog page!

cupcakes

6 oz cake flour

6 oz butter (room temperature)

6 oz sugar

1.5 teaspoon baking powder

3 eggs

1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract

icing

6 oz butter (room temperature)

6 oz powdered sugar

warm water

for assembling:

powdered sugar

strawberry or raspberry jam

Sift together flour & baking powder in a mixing bowl, then add all of the other ingredients and mix over medium speed until smooth.  Line a cupcake tin with 12 cupcake liners, and evenly fill the liners with batter.  Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown on top, or until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.  Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.

For the icing cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add a couple of drops of warm water if the icing seems too thick.

To assemble, slice each cupcake in half and spread jam on the bottom half and buttercream icing on the inside of the top half.  Place the top half on top of the bottom half and press gently so the filling oozes over the edges.  Finish by dusting the top with sifted powdered sugar.