Victoria Sponge Cupcakes

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!

Adorable light and airy Victoria Sponge Cupcakes filled with raspberry jam and topped with buttercream frosting. - 9

Warm, buttery cheddar cheese scones with a kick of cayenne. The perfect side for any soup or salad.

Cheddar Cheese Scones on parchment paper. - 10

It’s been soup month here, so I would be remiss if I didn’t post one of my favorite sides to pair with soup, Cayenne and Cheddar Cheese Scones. Honestly, these things are like the bastard love child of a biscuit and scone. They are a little more substantial than a biscuit but lighter and less crumbly than a traditional scone.

I actually went and did some research on the difference between the two because I wanted to make sure I was labeling them correctly, and apparently, people have some VERY strong opinions on the subject. (BTW, I love that article, you should read it.)

Cheddar Cheese Scones stacked on a white plate. - 11

Cheddar Cheese Scones stacked on a white plate. - 12

And I get it. I can be pretty pedantic about things (you’ll pry the oxford comma from my cold dead hands), but these scones are so good that you could call them cupcakes and no one’s going to complain when they bite into one.

They’re just slightly crisp on the outside, buttery on the inside and full of cheesy flavor. The slight warmth of the cayenne makes them incredibly satisfying and the perfect side for soups with milder flavors. I almost always pair them with classic chicken noodle and my Easy Chicken Peasant Soup to round out the meal. They really take whatever dish you serve them with and level it up in a big way.

Cheddar Cheese Scones stacked next to a bowl of soup. - 13

Cheddar Cheese Scones stacked next to a bowl of soup. - 14