He is a little over one month old now. Every day he grows a little. It’s pretty amazing how human being works. Like I eat all the cakes for him, and somehow my body makes all these cakes into milk. Then little croissant enjoys my milk as much as I enjoy all the cakes.
Lol, but honestly breastfeeding is so hard (and pumping sucks)
. My breast, unfortunately, has clogged once and making it back to normal is one of the most painful things I’ve ever experienced.
Little croissant also eats a lot. When we took classes at the hospital, the birth educator told us you needed to feed your baby every 2 to 3 hours. I thought omg that’s like 8-12 times per day. Nope. I fed him 14 times on average per day.
But besides that and lack of sleep, motherhood is pretty amazing so far. I can stair his face for hours and give up all my bakery/coffee shop runs voluntarily (who am I now?).
That means I pretty much have to bake all the things I crave myself, which isn’t easy when you have a hungry infant around. I still managed to bake quite often, but didn’t have much time to take pictures. The only decent photo I have is the Mini Victoria Sponge Cakes I baked for celebrating his 1 month birthday (Of course I ate the cakes all).
I used the queen of British baking – Mary Berry’s recipe. I know mine doesn’t necessarily look like a traditional Victoria Sponge. The recipe calls for a mini sandwich tin, which I don’t have and opted for a standard US muffin pan. Then I found if I want to make the cake looks like a traditional Victoria sandwich, I have to trim quite a bit of the cake. So I decorate it my way and I am very satisfied with the end result. 
I will write more about the recipe in the recipe report below. If you have self-rising flour on hand, this recipe is definitely a keeper. The strawberry season is almost over, so rush to farmer’s market and buy all the last local strawberries while you can. And of course, eat them with a side of Victoria Sponge cake. Or three. 
Happy summer baking!
Until next time, enjoy the beautiful weather and all the summer fruits! 
Mini Victoria Sponge Cakes Recipe Report
Yield: 12 mini cakes if using UK 12-cup mini sandwich tin, 9 mini cakes is using US standard muffin pan
Author: HerBakingLab
Recipe from Mary Berry
MATERIALS:
1. 175g/6oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
2. 175g/6oz caster (or superfine) sugar
3. 3 large free-range eggs, beaten
4. 1 tsp vanilla extract
5. 175g/6oz self-raising flour
6. 300ml/10½fl oz heavy cream
7. Store bought or homemade strawberry jam
PROCEDURE:
1. Preheat the oven to 190C(170C fan)/375F/Gas 5. Lightly grease the tins with butter.
2. Cream the butter and caster sugar together until the mixture is pale and light. Gradually add the beaten eggs, mixing well between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl from time to time. Add the vanilla extract and mix to combine.
3. Sift the flour into the bowl and fold in until the mixture is glossy and smooth. Divide the mixture between the mini sandwich tin cups (or muffin pan) and level with a teaspoon.
4. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 15 minutes until golden-brown and springy to the touch. Leave the cakes to cool in the tin for two minutes and then ease onto a wire cooling rack and leave to cool completely.
5. Whip the cream to soft peaks and spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle. Cut each cake in half horizontally with a bread knife. Pipe one dot of the cream in the middle of each cake base and the rest in dots around the edges. Drizzle the jam over the cream, place the sponge tops on and lightly sift icing sugar over the cakes.
OBSERVATIONS & NOTES:
1. I don’t have a UK mini sandwich tin and used a US standard muffin pan instead. The bake time is about the same, but the shape of the cake is slightly different. If you want the cake to look like a traditional Victoria Sandwich, you have to trim quite a bit of the cake off. Therefore, I didn’t follow the last step on how to decorate the cake.
2. This is how I decorate my mini Victoria Sponge – flip the cake upside down and trim off the “muffin top”. Cut the cake in half horizontally and spread with strawberry jam. Assemble the cake back together and top with whipped cream. Place a cute little strawberry on top.
