Victoria Butterfly Cakes

For sweet little cakes, these are a bit inappropriately dressed, I know.  It seems that TK Maxx can tend towards the bawdy unless you shop carefully.  Exactly the same with their muffin cases as with their party dresses.

Anyway, it’s basically the Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall method again.  For a low-calorie version, use mini-muffin cases and only eat one!

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.

Weigh 3 eggs.  Note down how much they weighed, then measure out the same amount of self-raising flour, golden caster sugar and either soft butter or sunflower spread.  Add about 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.

Use a hand-whisk to mix it all up until it looks delicious, then divide into about 12 large muffin cases and about 10 smaller ones.

Put them all in the oven.  Check them as soon as the oven starts wafting out lovely smells, usually after about 8 minutes.  Quickly (but carefully) take out the smallest sponges and shut the oven door very swiftly before your larger cakes catch a draught.  Give your larger cakes an extra 4 – 6 minutes until they are, well, spongy.  Let them cool completely in their baking tins.

Now, make your butter icing.  About 100g nice butter and 200 – 210g icing sugar should do it.  Beat together with a teaspoonful of vanilla extract until smooth.  Add a little lemon juice or milk if it’s too stiff.

Use a sharp knife to excavate a small hole in the top of each cake and carefully slice each top in two.

Put a teeny-tiny teaspoon tipful of strawberry jam in the base of each hole, then a full teaspoon of buttercream over that.  Decorate with the ‘butterfly wings’ you’ve just created and sprinkle with lots of icing sugar.  On second thoughts, best to sprinkle just before serving.

And let me know if you find some more suitable muffin cases than I did…

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