Time for.....a spot of vanilla sponge

Hello there,

Welcome back to day three of Afternoon Tea Week 2015 at Tea With Me and Friends. We hope you have enjoyed the recipes that we've shared with you so far this week...today we decided to be a bit more traditional and look at a good old fashioned vanilla sponge.

Whether it be a vanilla cupcake or a Victoria Sponge, you can't really go well with a lovely vanilla sponge...especially when it looks like this....

Mini Victoria Sponge
Tea With Me and Friends

Yes, this is a dinky little Victoria Sponge....perfect for an afternoon tea spread! I made my miniature sponges using the Mini Sandwich Tin from Lakeland, I also used the recipe from the Lakeland website.

So, what will you need to make 12 mini sponges....

175g unsalted butter, at room temperature

175g caster sugar

3 large eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

175g self-raising flour

Pinch of salt

Not forgetting the buttercream...

150g unsalted butter at room temperature

300g icing sugar, sifted, plus extra for dusting

Plus some jam of your choice....I've used strawberry here.

So, what do you do....

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly grease the tin.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten eggs, mixing well between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl from time to time. Add the vanilla extract and mix again.
3. Sift the flour and salt into the bowl and fold in until the mixture is glossy and smooth.
4. Divide the mixture between the tin and level with a teaspoon.
5. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 15 minutes until golden, well risen and a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of one of the cakes comes out clean.
6. Leave the cakes to cool in the tin for 2 minutes and then ease out onto a wire cooling rack and leave until completely cool.
7. To make the buttercream, cream together the butter, icing sugar until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Transfer to a piping bag.
8. Cut each cake in half, and pipe the buttercream onto the bases, in dots. Drizzle the jam over the buttercream dots, place the sponge tops on and lightly dust the cakes with icing sugar.

Ta dah!

Traditional mini Victoria Sponges

A vanilla sponge is so versatile, as you can add all kinds of different fillings from preserves and curds to fresh berries....

Mini Victoria Sponges with fresh blueberries

Do you have the Lakeland Mini Sandwich Tin? What flavour cakes do you like to make in yours? We'd love to see your photos - send them to us on Twitter or post them to our Facebook page.

Thank you for popping by today, we look forward to seeing you again soon.

Rachel & Lorna