Delightful mini vanilla cakes paired with strawberries + cream
Ingredients
Cake:
8 tbsp granulated sugar
6 tbsp melted butter
8 tbsp milk
2 tbsp vanilla
1/2 tbsp baking powder
12 tbsp flour
Whipped cream:
6 tbsp heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
*OR just buy store bought whipped cream (but homemade is better)
Also:
A handful of small berries
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Put a small bowl in the freezer, to make whipped cream in later on.
In a small bowl combine sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla.
Add flour and baking powder, mix to combine.
Pour batter into tiny cake tins (this makes 2 tins with 3.5 in diameter), bake for 20 minutes. Check to see if the top is firm and lightly golden.
In the chilled bowl using an electric hand mixer, whip the cream until it becomes thick and will hold shape when scooped.
Gently fold in the sugar and vanilla.
Once the cakes are cool, arrange fruit on top of one and pipe the whipped cream in between the fruits, stack the second layer on top.
Decorate the top layer with more fruit and whipped cream or leave it plain.
Tips
Whipped Cream
Use an electric mixer for the cream. You can do it by hand, but it will take a while. Don't be shy, turn your mixer all the way up to whip it faster (just make sure it doesn't spray cream everywhere). To make sure that the cream is ready, scoop it will a spoon and see if it holds its shape. Then add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Carefully fold in the sugar and vanilla by hand, no mixer. Then put the whipped cream in a piping bag (or ziplock bag with one corner cut open). If your cakes are still warm, store the cream in the fridge. I already said it, but you can use store bought whipped cream. But TRUST me, homemade is so much better. If you've never made whipped cream before DO NOT panic. It's not hard. Just follow the instructions. You'll love it home made. Also, you can control how much sugar you want to add based on taste.
Berries to use
I used strawberries and raspberries. You could try blackberries, blueberries, or even sliced peaches. The berries aren't in the cake itself, they're for decoration and in between layers. Use whatever you like.
Different sized tins
I have cute little 3.5 inch diameter tins. This recipe fills two of those (for a small 2 layer cake). If you don't have cake tins this size, consider using muffin/cupcake tins, and only fill them halfway up. Those cakes would be quite small, and I estimate that the batter might make 4 cakes then. Let me know if you use this method.
Decorations
I used a heart shaped cookie cutter to make the heart whipped cream pattern. Then I sprinkled powdered sugar around the edges and placed raspberries around the heart. To imitate the heart, you could cut a heart out of baking paper and spread whipped cream over it. Some other ideas: You could simply pile on the leftover whipped cream and sprinkle some fruit over. You could dust the entire top with powdered sugar and then add fruit. Or leave it plain.
Refrigerate it
This cake has whipped cream, which will go bad if not refrigerated. If you don't eat it all after making it, store it in the fridge on a plate covered in plastic wrap. Mine lasted for 5 days. Surprisingly, the fridge didn't dry out the sponge or make it bland. I actually quite like the cake a little chilled.
Calories
Baked goods are often high in sugar, fat, and carbs. As someone who bakes often, I have to watch how much I eat. I love to eat. I do. I also love to have a healthy body. That being said, I appreciate when a recipe states a calorie count. So I've decided to provide that for you.
Total calories in the cake: 1,496
Divide that number by how many slices you ate. I think that this cake provides 4 good sized slices. It's up to you. If you used different ingredients, your calories will be different. If you're curious, look at the nutrition labels on your ingredients, those will tell you the calories in a certain amount of that product.
*does not include whipped cream
Photos!
The first layer of cake.
The cake with the second layer added.
An above view.
After a slice has been cut. Look at the textures!
mmmmmmm...
Growing up, we always celebrated Midsummer's Eve. We built fairy houses out of hot glue and cardboard. We picked bouquets and made flower crowns. We would leave honey out for the fairies, hoping they would come that night. My mom always dipped 2 of her fingers into the honey and walked them through the fairy house to make it seem like the fairies had left honey footprints. I miss the days when fairies seemed real.
Do you have any Midsummer traditions?
These are beautiful, fairy sized cakes, perfect for a Midsummer's Eve party. This is a wonderful activity for some imaginative children still in the middle of those nostalgic times that the rest of us look back on. Enjoy!
Love,
Rachel