Crowned with a picture-perfect, heart-shaped strawberry, these delicious Mini Strawberry Sponge Cakes are not only worthy of a lovely Valentine’s Day affair, but they also graced the cover of our January/February 2021 issue.
Mini Strawberry Sponge Cakes
Serves: 12
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup unbleached self-rising flour
- ⅓cup plus 2 tablespoons castor sugar, divided
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter, room temperature*
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
- 1 ounce cream cheese, softened
- ⅓ cup cold heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 6 tablespoons strawberry preserves
- Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
- 6 small fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Butter the wells of a 12-well mini cheesecake pan. Line bottoms with parchment paper. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, beat together flour, ⅓ cup castor sugar, butter, egg, and egg yolk with a mixer at low speed just until combined. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat until ingredients are well incorporated, approximately 1 minute, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as needed.
- Divide batter among prepared wells (approximately 1½ tablespoons batter each), smoothing tops with a fingertip or a small off set spatula. Tap pan on counter several times to reduce air bubbles, smoothing tops again, if needed.
- Bake until golden brown and a wooden pick inserted centers comes out clean, 10 to 12 minutes.
- Let cakes cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely, parchment side down, on wire racks.
- Using a sharp serrated knife in a gentle sawing motion, level cakes. Discard parchment. Cut each cake crosswise in half to create 2 even layers. Place leveled top half of each cake on prepared baking sheet. (These will now be the bottom of each cake.)
- In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese and remaining 2 tablespoons castor sugar with a mixer at medium speed until smooth and well blended, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to medium-low and slowly beat in half of cream until smooth, stopping frequently to scrape down sides of bowl. Gradually add remaining half of cream, vanilla bean paste, and almond extract, beating at medium speed until thickened. (Do not over-beat.) Transfer cream cheese mixture to a piping bag fitted with a ¼-inch round piping tip (Wilton #10).
- Place preserves in a small bowl and whisk until mostly smooth. Spread approximately 1½ teaspoons preserves over each cake half on baking sheet. Pipe cream cheese mixture evenly over preserves on each cake. Cover with remaining cake halves, cut side down. Serve immediately, or place in an airtight container and refrigerate for a few hours until needed.
- Just before serving, using a small, fine-mesh sieve, dust confectioners’ sugar on top of cakes in an even layer. Top each cake with a strawberry half.
Notes
*Unlike softened butter, room temperature butter should provide no resistance when pressed with a finger. At this point, the butter is softened enough to easily incorporate into your cake batter.
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