Easy to make butterfly cakes (with lemon cream and strawberry wings)

I have been partaking in a lot of baking recently, as my friend is currently raising money for a charity trek in September, meaning a few bake sales at work. As I lurve baking, I have taken the opportunity to get experimental and subjected treated my colleagues to interesting baked delights such as Chocolate chip mocha and peanut butter swirl cake, sweet toffee popcorn cheesecake cupcakes and sweet n savoury courgette vegetable muffins (check out the links to my blog). 

But for the most recent bake sale, I went back to simplicity, to a well known classic - the butterfly cake. The simple combination of plain sponge, jam and whipped cream is perfectly 

sitting pretty for the bake sale 

the sponge cakes are so easy to make 

2 eggs

115g caster sugar

115g softened butter

115g self raising flour

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

small carton of whipping cream (approx 150ml) 

zest of one lemon 

icing sugar (optional) 

jam 

makes 10 cupcakes 

In a large bowl, cream the butter with the sugar with an electric mixture 

Break the eggs into the mixture and beat thoroughly 

feel free to lick the bowl after 

Sift the flour into the mixture and fold it in with a metal spoon. Stir in the vanilla essence

When all stirred well, put one spoonful of the mixture 
into cup cake cases

look good enough to eat already 

Pop the cakes into the oven for about 10 minutes 

Don't open the oven door before the ten minutes are up otherwise the cakes will loose their air and fluff, To check that they are cooked to perfection, stick a cocktail stick or something into the cake - when it comes out clean, it is cooked! 

use a quick speed setting to whip whip whip 

Whilst baking, in a large bowl, whip up the cream, along with the zest and if you fancy, add a generous sprinkling of icing sugar

This funky gadget is from Lakeland 

I decided to add a slight twist to the butterfly cakes.. with the niftiest little gadget, I took the core out of the cupcake and added a dollop of thick jam (I chose strawberry), topped with a scoop of lemon cream and rather than cup the peak of the cake off to form the wings, I added strawberry pieces. 

simply push the device in and pull out the core 

add a generous dollop of jam 

mmmm

Voila! So simple but everyone seems to love a butterfly cake, and I love the twist on this classic. 

Sponge cake + cream + strawberry = divine! 

does the strawberry on top count as one of your 5 a day?!

Delicious and cute! 

X x X