I find mini cakes so much more fun to make than full size cakes, and I like serving them to guests more as well. I think there’s something classy about having an entire cake for dessert (even if it is mini size) that is quite impressive. This Earl Grey Victoria Sponge mini cakes recipe uses the same cake recipe as my Earl Grey Cupcakes with Mascarpone Mousse, except here I’ve subbed the mousse for a standard vanilla whipped cream.
The one thing you will need for this recipe is a ring mold. These are such useful little kitchen tools. In this recipe I use them to cut circles out of a sheet of Earl Grey Victoria sponge cake. As the cake is pretty airy, you can freeze the cake disks and save them for later. They take just 10 minutes to defrost.
The filling is somewhat traditional in that it has the whipped cream. I did opt to leave out the strawberry jam since I didn’t want it to overpower the Earl Grey tea flavor, and instead just used fresh strawberries as a garnish. I went with a slightly sweetened vanilla whipped cream that I made in my stand mixer. You can use store-bought whipped cream if you want, I just find it easier to make it at home since it only takes 5 minutes and saves a trip to the store.
For garnish/decoration I just went with some fresh strawberries and shaved chocolate. You can of course decorate however you like. I didn’t overload on the whipped cream, decorating it more like a crumb coat so you can see the layers. However I’m not usually a dessert maker so I’m sure some of you readers will come up with prettier decorations.
Earl Grey Victoria Sponge Mini Cakes
Equipment
- Ring Mold
- Sheet Pan
- stand mixer
Ingredients
Earl Grey Cupcakes
- 288 grams Flour All Purpose
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Earl Grey Tea powder or dust no need for loose leaf
- 3/4 tsp Salt
- 226 grams Butter room temperature
- 350 grams Sugar granulated
- 3 Eggs large
- 230 ml Milk Earl Grey infused
Earl Grey Infused Milk
- 350 ml Milk 3.2% aka full fat
- 1.5 tbsp Earl Grey Tea loose leaf high quality
Vanilla Whipped Cream
- 250 ml Heavy Cream aka double cream
- 10 grams Vanilla Sugar
- 1 tbsp Granulated Sugar
Instructions
Earl Grey Milk
- In a small pot bring the milk and loose leaf earl grey to a boil. Once the boiling starts, turn off the heat and let sit for 10 minutes. While it is sitting you can work on the cake.
Earl Grey Cake
- In a bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and Earl Grey dust (cheap quality).
- In a stand mixer with paddle attachment (or a hand mixer) cream together the sugar and the butter. Slowly add the eggs one at a time. Then add some flour, then some infused milk, then flour etc… until all the wet and dry ingredients are together in the stand mixer. Once everything is combined, turn off the mixer. Do not over mix.
- Pour the batter into a parchment lined baking tray and bake at 175 C or 350 F for around 10-12 minutes. I used a two-thirds sheet pan which is 21 by 15 inches. This means the batter spreads thin and cooks faster. Use a toothpick at 10 minutes to see if the cake is baked.
- Remove the sheet pan from the oven and let cool completely. When cool, flip onto a flat surface. Use the ring mold to cut disks out of the cake sheet. I was able to get 18 disks of cake, which can make 6 mini cakes. At this point you can freeze the disks to decorate later, or work on them now.
Vanilla Whipped Cream
- Add all the ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer on whisk attachment and let run on high for about 5 minutes, or until you have whipped cream.
Assembly
- Using the ring mold place a cake disk in, then two tsp of whipped cream, then another cake disk and repeat for 5 layers. 3 cake, 2 cream.
- Use the plunger carefully to remove the ring mold without compressing the cake and cream. Add a tablespoon of cream on the top of the cake and using a knife or offset spatula smooth the top and sides. Garnish with strawberries and shaved chocolate, or whatever you want.
