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I had just enough time to squeeze in one more Royal Wedding treat! I decided to go with a simple Victoria Sponge but styled into a bite size whoopie pie. These are really quick and easy to bring to your local street party! I still haven't decided how to spend my day off from work. Any suggestions?
Victoria Sponge is the most classic British cake, after a fruit cake. It's two vanilla cakes with whipped cream and raspberry jam sandwiched in the middle. It's not overly sweet but a good contrast to the sweet Bubbly Peach Cupcakes I made earlier.
I used cookie cutters to make stencils out of the aluminium foil for the icing sugar dusted on top. A little glitter mixed in there would look nice too. You could also make a reverse template to what I've done.
I used Hannah Miles book Whoopie Pies: Fun Recipes for Filled Cookie Cakes
, which is absolutely adorable (I bought my sister the book and in the US it is in cup measurements not grams)! I thought about dying the cake red and blue but figured that wouldn't be sophisticated enough for such an occasion. Victoria Sandwich Whoopie Pie
adapted from Hannah Miles 'Whoopie Pies' (makes 12)
Ingredients
Cake
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
220g caster/superfine sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
320g self rising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
250ml buttermilk
100ml hot water (not boiling)
Filling
300ml whipping cream
raspberry jam
icing sugar, for dusting
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease a whoopie pie tin. Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder together in a medium bowl and set aside.
2. In a large bowl cream together the sugar and butter with an electric mixer on medium speed, until light and fluffy about 3 minutes.
3. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Whisk in the buttermilk, alternating with the flour mixture. Whisk until Incorporated. Stir in the hot water.
4. Scoop one spoonful of batter into the tin or onto the tray. Alternatively for a uniform smooth pie put the batter in a piping bag. Let stand for 10 minutes and bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from tin after a few minutes and set aside to cool completely.
5. Make the filling by whipping the cream until stiff peaks form. Place in a piping bag and swirl onto a round.
6. Place another cake on top a dust with icing sugar.
7. Enjoy!
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| Duchess of York (1923) |
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| Duke and Duchess of York (1923) |
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| Duke and Duchess of Gloucester (1935) |
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| Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh (1947) |
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| Princess Anne with her father, Prince Phillip (1973) |
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| Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips (1973) |
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wedding
April 29th is almost upon us and with it comes a barrage of TV and magazine specials, tea towel souvenirs and of course cake! Lots and lots of cake. In case you missed it check out my guest post on Cupcakes Take The Cake on Royal Wedding Cupcakes in the UK. I've never had so much fun doing research before!
At the real wedding there will be a fruit cake made by Fiona Cairns and a McVities biscuit cake. I reviewed Fiona's book Bake & Decorate earlier. Read it here and see the three recipes I tested. April 29th has been declared a bank holiday so I have the day off from work. I haven't decided how I'm going to celebrate yet!
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I'm not a huge fan of fruit cake so I made a peach champagne cupcake complete with juicy peach chunks and topped with a luscious champagne swiss meringue buttercream. The cases are made by Meri Meri.
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I bought a mini bottle of Spanish cava at the supermarket which is just enough for the both the cake and frosting. I think swiss meringue buttercream is my favorite kind of frosting at the moment. It's just so fluffy and fun to pipe.
Peach Champagne Cupcakes and Champagne Swiss Meringue Buttercream
adapted from Martha Stewart and Yum Sugar (makes 16)
Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick/115g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla (peach flavoring also optional)
1/2 cup champagne or cava
1 cup diced peaches, tossed in flour
Frosting
5 egg whites
1 cup sugar
4 sticks/450g unsalted butter, chilled cut into cubes
4 sticks/450g unsalted butter, chilled cut into cubes
a few tablespoons of champagne or cava to taste
1 tsp vanilla
1. Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C and line muffin tray with paper liners. In a small bowl whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
2. With an electric mixer on high speed mix cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time beating until combined. Add in the vanilla and peach flavoring (if using).
3. Add the flour mixture in two batches alternating with the champagne until all incorporated. Fold in the chopped peaches.
4. Fill each cup three quarters full and bake for 25 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.
5. Make the frosting by whisking the egg whites and sugar over a double boiler until warm and the sugar has dissolved.
6. Pour the mixture into a large bowl and beat on medium high speed until smooth and fluffy, about 10 minutes. When the bottom of the bowl is no longer warm start adding the butter one cube at a time. Continue beating until all the butter is added and add the vanilla and the champagne one tablespoon at a time. Don't add too much or the frosting will go runny.
7. Once the cupcakes are cool pipe a generous amount of frosting on each and enjoy!
