Saturday Morning Snapshot
Hey, Spring, it’s not your turn yet…
State of the Blog
We closed out February this week with some more of my favorite recipes. Monday, in honor of our February Soups and Stews Series , we had my very favorite side to pair with soup. Wednesday, I posted the last recipe in that series, an old family favorite, and Friday we had a fun, jam-filled cupcake recipe that I adapted as a gift for my youngest sister.
Next week, we have two(!) cupcake recipes (posting all these back to back cupcakes was a bit of a scheduling error on my part) and a quick and healthy side dish that I think you are really going to enjoy.
Recipes/posts released this week were:
Cayenne and Cheddar Cheese Scones – Warm, buttery cheddar cheese scones with a kick of cayenne. The perfect side for any soup or salad. Mom’s Sunday Beef Stew – Completely from scratch delicious and hearty beef stew, just like Mom used to make it. Victoria Sponge Cupcakes – Adorable light and airy sponge cupcakes filled with raspberry jam and topped with buttercream frosting.
Pop-culture Corner
Did anyone else make it through London Spy on BBCA? I love London, and I love spies, but man did this show feel like two hours of plot stretched out to five depressing, painful episodes. Such a bummer!
Regarding another show staring fantastic Brits, I caught up with Agent Carter this week and Peggy and Jarvis, bosom buddies are officially my everything.
From the trailer , I don’t know if Bastille Day looks like a good movie, but it has Idris Elba and Richard Madden doing his best Sebastian Stan impression, so I’m all in.
Finally, The Oscars are tonight! Will you be watching? Have any favorites to win? I don’t have much of an opinion as I’ve only seen a handful of the nominees, but I am perversely rooting against Leo. He’s run a good campaign, but I just love my #LeoWantsAnOscar memes too much.
Meal Planning
Saturday: Scrounge Night Sunday: Ribs (moved up from last weekend) Monday: String Bean Chicken Tuesday: Garlic Chicken Cobb Salad Wednesday: Salsa Chicken Thursday: Pork Chops Modenese Friday: Zuppa
Adorable light and airy Victoria Sponge Cupcakes filled with raspberry jam and topped with buttercream frosting.
I’m so excited to share today’s recipe because it was actually part of a birthday gift for my youngest sister, Tammy.
Over the summer, we did a family girls trip to the UK. We started in Edinburgh, did a side trip to Oxford, and ended the vacation with a few days in London. The whole thing was a great adventure. We took a boat out on Loch Ness, rode bicycles around Oxford, and survived the August tube strike in London.
Every night after dinner, we’d walk around whatever city we were in, find a bakery and buy something to take back to the hotel and share. This ended up with some real winners, like the chocolate-filled doughnut I had in Edinburgh, and the shockingly delicious banoffee pie we bought in Greenwich (I don’t like bananas in baked goods, why do I love this????) and some not so winners. No one liked treacle tarts and we all forgot that black forest gateau contained cherries until we bit into it–ick. But Tammy’s favorite dessert by far was Victoria sponge cake.
She’s mentioned it dreamily a few times since we got back, so I went to look up a recipe to send to her. But alas, since Victoria Sponge is a quintessentially British treat, all of the recipes were in British English, which my sister, who is not even a baker, does not speak.
So as a gift to her, I adapted the recipe for American cooks and sensibilities. I started with the great Mary Berry’s Victoria sponge recipe, translated it from metric (though we should probably all be using metric to bake as it’s so much easier), turned it into a cupcake, and added a buttercream on top. Now, any time she wants, she can make a little bit of England here in the US.
If you’ve never had Victoria sponge, it’s so good. Light and delicious sponge with a raspberry jam filling and sprinkled with powdered sugar. I’m not usually one for jam-filled desserts, but there’s something about the blend of flavors and textures here, the mild and the sweet, smooth and spongy that is really lovely. They are perfect for a light dessert, or serving to guests with tea.
Ingredients
Sponge Cupcakes
- ▢ 1 cup ( 8 oz) unsalted butter room temperature
- ▢ 1 1/2 cup ( 210 g) all-purpose flour
- ▢ 1 1/4 cup ( 250 g) superfine sugar*
- ▢ 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 4 large eggs room temperature
Filling
- ▢ Raspberry Jam
Buttercream
- ▢ 8 tablespoons ( 4 oz) unsalted butter room temperature
- ▢ 1 1/2 cup ( 180 g) powdered sugar sifted + extra for dusting
- ▢ 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ▢ Pinch of salt
Instructions
Sponge Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line cupcake pans.
- Place butter, sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, and eggs in your mixer and beat on low for 2 minutes until combined.
- Divide into 20 cupcake cups. Your cups should be filled about halfway full, as these cupcakes grow a lot! You should not have fewer than 20 filled cups or there will be overflow!
- Bake for 15-18 minutes until tops are golden.
- Allow to cool completely.
Add the Jam
- Using a serrated knife, cut a cone-shaped piece out of the center of each cupcake so that there is space in the center for filling (save the cone). Spoon about a teaspoon of jam into the space.
- Cut the tip off the cone you cut and replace top back on the cupcake. Repeat with all of the cupcakes.
Buttercream
- Whisk together butter, powdered sugar, heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt. Spread on cupcakes or use a small closed star tip to pipe frosting.
- Dust with powdered sugar.
Notes
Small-batch Instructions: This recipe is easy to cut down. For each egg, you’ll need 1/2 cup butter, 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and a pinch of salt. No preparation changes are needed.
If you make these, I would love to see them! Tag me @bakingmischief onTwitteror #bakingmischief onInstagram!
Pound Cake Cupcakes are a perfect excuse to eat cupcakes for breakfast. Light, buttery pound cake topped with the berries of your choice and smothered in a lot more than a dollop of homemade whipped cream.
There’s a great local brunch buffet place in my home town. A few years ago, they started serving cupcakes alongside their waffles and pancakes. Not pastries or glazed muffins, full on chocolate and vanilla buttercream cupcakes like you’d eat at a birthday party.
It offended me greatly at the time for reasons still I cannot name (though it doesn’t stop me from eating a bite of one every time), so it is hilarious (and the height of hypocrisy) that today, February 29, in the year of our Lord 2016, I’m posting a recipe called “Cupcakes for Breakfast.”
To be fair, I feel like fruit and whipped cream over pound cake cupcakes is a little more breakfast appropriate than chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles, but to each his own. And you don’t have to eat these for breakfast. They are delicious any time of day, but when I was thinking about situations in which I’d serve them, aside from sun-drenched afternoon tea parties, all roads kept leading back to brunch.
And what a brunch that would be. These cupcakes are a real treat. Soft, with a dense crumb on the inside and ever so slightly crisp on the outside. When you add the sweet tartness of the berries and the richness of the whipped cream, you’ll know you are starting your day off right.
I usually like to post sweet recipes on Fridays, but this recipe is being posted on a Monday because we are going to be using these pound cake cupcakes a couple times over the next few weeks as part of a four-recipe cupcake series that starts on Friday. Keep an eye open for that first post, I’m excited for you to see it! (Update: Those posts are now all live! Go check out my Tagalong Cupcakes and Samoa Cupcakes which both use these pound cake cupcakes as a base.)
More Sweet Breakfast Recipes
- The Best Cinnamon Toast
- Small-batch Cinnamon Rolls
- Pancakes for One
- White Chocolate Mocha
Ingredients
Pound Cake Cupcakes
- ▢ 1 cup ( 100 g) sifted cake flour
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 1/3 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ▢ 1 cup ( 200 g) superfine sugar*
- ▢ 2 large eggs at room temperature
- ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ▢ 1/3 cup heavy cream
Whipped Cream
- ▢ 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- ▢ 1 tablespoon 1 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon vanilla optional
Toppings
- ▢ 1 1/2 cups berries of your choice
Instructions
Pound Cake Cupcakes
- Line your cupcake pan. Do not preheat your oven.
- Using two large bowls, sift together salt and flour and then return flour mixture to sifter and sift once more.
- In a stand mixer (or with a hand-held electric mixer), with the paddle attachment, on medium-high speed, beat softened butter and sugar until visibly lightened in color, about 3 minutes.
- Scrape down the sides and bottom and add the eggs one at a time, beating after each. Add the vanilla and beat until incorporated.
- Scrape sides and bottom and with the mixer on low, add half of the flour, mixing until combined.
- Add all of the cream and then the rest of the flour. Mixing well after each.
- Scrape sides and bottom and beat on medium-high speed for 4 minutes until batter is smooth.
- Fill cupcake cups 2/3 of the way full and tap tray on the counter a couple of times to remove any air bubbles. This should make exactly 12 cupcakes.
- Place into a cold oven and set to 350°F. Bake for 20-27 minutes (depending on how fast your oven heats up), until golden and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.
Whipped Cream
- If making by hand, place your (preferably) metal bowl and whisk in the freezer for about 15 minutes until they are very cold. Once chilled, remove bowl and add cream, sugar, and vanilla. Go to town whisking until soft peaks form.
- If making in a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla on medium-high speed until cream reaches desired consistency, about 3-5 minutes.
Assemble
- Spoon a thin layer of whipped cream over the center of your cupcakes. Place berries over the top and then spread a generous spoonful of whipped cream over the berries.
- Garnish with one more berry and serve.
Notes
Nutritional Information Poundcake Recipe Adapted From: Epicurious
Small-batch Instructions: To halve this recipe, just remember that 1/2 of 1/3 cup is equal to 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons. Freezer Instructions: Cupcakes can be individually wrapped in foil and frozen together in an air-tight container for up to 2 months, though tops may become slightly crumbly. To defrost, unwrap and allow to come to room temperature on a wire rack (so the bottom doesn’t become soggy) for about an hour. I don’t love to freeze whipped cream for use on baked goods, but if you have leftovers, you can freeze the excess in dollops to put in coffee and hot chocolate.
