Name: Victoria Sandwich Cupcakes
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 12 servings
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 175 g butter, softened; 175 g caster sugar; 3 eggs, about 150 g; 175 g self-raising flour; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 100 g butter, for the buttercream; 200 g icing sugar; 1 tbsp whole milk; 100 g raspberry jam; 1 tbsp icing sugar, for dusting

Victoria Sandwich Cupcakes

Small vanilla sponge cakes sandwiched with raspberry jam and buttercream, finished with a dusting of icing sugar.

40 min total Serves 12 servings Easy

Why Victoria Sandwich Cupcakes Works

A cake for a birthday tea, a bring-and-share table or just a Sunday afternoon, made small so that every guest gets the same amount of jam. The classic is equal weights of butter, sugar, flour and eggs.

Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time with a spoonful of the flour, which stops the mixture from curdling, then fold in the rest of the flour and the vanilla. The batter should drop off the spoon. Do not open the oven in the first 15 minutes. The cakes rise and then sink if the heat drops.

Bake at 180°C / 355°F for 20 minutes until golden and springy. If your oven runs hot, check at 17 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Cut a lid off each cake and cut it in half to make two wings. Pipe or spoon on buttercream, add a teaspoon of jam, and set the wings on top like butterflies. Dust with icing sugar.

Making Victoria Sandwich Cupcakes

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Heat the oven to 180°C / 355°F and line a 12-hole tin with cases. Beat the 175 g of butter and the sugar for 3 minutes until pale.
Beat in the eggs one at a time with a spoonful of flour each, then fold in the remaining flour and the vanilla.
Divide between the cases and bake for 20 minutes until golden and springy. Cool on a rack.
Beat the 100 g of butter with the 200 g of icing sugar and the milk until fluffy.
Cut a lid from each cake, halve it, spread the cake with buttercream and jam and set the two halves on top. Dust with the icing sugar.

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Small Things That Help

Use soft butter.
Do not open the oven early.
If your oven runs hot, check at 17 minutes.
Cool fully before filling.

Ingredient Swaps

No self-raising flour to hand? The common home substitute is the same weight of plain flour with 2 teaspoons of baking powder for every 150 g, sifted together well; the rise may not be identical to a bought self-raising flour.

Serving Suggestions

Tea
Fresh strawberries
Whipped cream
Lemonade

Keeping and Reheating

Keeps in an airtight tin for 3 days.