Mini Vanilla Bean Strawberry Layer Cakes
I love mini things. They are just so darn cute you know? It’s not just food items though- as proven by my real addiction to baby clothes. (Someone help me please!) I just find that everything is better in teeny portions, and mini layer cakes are no exception. These are made by cutting rounds out of a cake with biscuit cutter and layering them just like you would a regular cake. Pretty sweet huh? I think they are perfect for giving someone their own personal cake- or for special dessert spreads for parties.
Speaking of parties, I think these would be exceptionally sweet at a baby shower- don’t you? I figured mini layered cakes would be adorable on a baby shower dessert spread and since a few blog friends and I are throwing a *surprise* virtual baby shower for our friend Stephanie who writes the fabulous blog Girl Vs. Dough. I thought these cakes would be perfect. Steph is expecting a little baby girl any day now, and I just can’t wait for her to join the throws of Mommyhood. We met last summer when I was pregnant and Steph was hoping to be. I will not-so-secretly imagine these little beauties on a real life dessert spread for this special gal’s baby shower.
My favorite part of this fluffy vanilla bean cake is that you can actually bake the cake, stamp the rounds out, and freeze them until you’re ready to use. It’s the perfect way to make sure you have the means to whip up a quick personal-sized cake for someone special at a moment’s notice. This is my favorite fluffy white cake and it would be good with almost any frosting- chocolate, cream cheese, vanilla etc. Everything is cuter (and maybe more delicious,) when it’s mini- I promise!
Mini Vanilla Bean Strawberry Layer Cakes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup white sugar
- 12 tablespoons butter, softened
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract, or a combo of extract, vanilla bean paste or vanilla bean
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cup whole milk
For frosting*:
- 3/4 cups butter, softened (1 1/2 sticks)
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, or extract
- splash of milk
- 4 strawberries, sliced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a jelly-roll pan with butter. (or spray.) Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and beat on high speed for about 3 minutes, until fluffy and pale. Stir in the vanilla.
- Combine flour, baking powder and salt, and add to the butter mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk, starting and ended with the flour mixture. Don't over-beat the batter.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan evenly, smoothing with the back of a spoon.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes in the preheated oven or until golden. Let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.
For Frosting:
- Whip butter on high speed until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and continue to beat until smooth. Add the vanilla and milk, and beat until creamy and good spreading consistency.
To assemble:
- Use a round cookie or biscuit cutter to stamp out rounds of the cooled cake. Spread each layer with frosting, add sliced strawberries and then add another layer and repeat. After adding a thin layer of frosting to the whole cake, chill in the freezer before adding an thicker layer of frosting.
Notes
*The frosting recipe given is enough for 2 mini layer cakes. I chose to freeze the rest of my cake rounds, saving them for a later time when I needed a cute mini cake! Cake recipe adapted from: All Recipes
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 5 Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g
How super cute are these!! Mini makes everything 100 times cuter!
Cannot. Handle. The. CUTENESS. Seriously! I want to gobble these pretty little cakes right up.
These little cakes! I can’t get over them. Thank you so, so much, dear friend, for this lovely surprise! I cannot WAIT to share in the joys of mommyhood with you (though that baby clothes addiction? Already happening ;)).
We’re with you! All things mini is so darn cute! Looks yum!
Mini cakes are always super cute and these are no exception
Aren’t these the cutest little cakes, ever! Love mini anything. Pinned.
Oh my gosh, how cute and perfect are these?!!! Where have all the mini layer cakes been all my life? So happy to meet you and come across your blog through Stephanie! Cheers to great company and a fun and memorable baby shower!
These are so cute! Perfect for a baby shower!
Teeny, tiny bebe everything is so much cuter…desserts included! and I feel you on the tiny baby clothes thing, I’m expecting a little boy in July and I cannot keep myself from perusing (and purchasing) items each time I go out!
Mini cakes are the cutest. I love this recipe!
These are so cute Audra! I love mini everything too! And I always find them easier to photograph :)
This cake looks fabulous. We always celebrate May Day with strawberry cake. I think this fits the bill to a T.
This is GORGEOUS Audra!!
These are so adorable — I just love them! And anything vanilla bean is generally fabulous. Thanks for sharing! And yep, totally agree that mini desserts taste even better :)
These are so presh! I am also addicted to baby clothes. He looks better than I do most days.
I love, love, love these cute little layer cakes! They could not be more perfect for a shower.
These mini cakes are SOOO pretty and look so fresh and delicious and YAY FOR STEPHANIE’S BABY SHOWERRRR!
Mini cakes are the best little sweet things EVER!!! Looooove this! It’s so special for Steph :)
How utterly adorable!
These are adorable!! They look absolutely perfect for a spring baby shower :)
Of all the mini things shared today, these make me want to squeee the most! I love them! Thank you so much for joining our baby shower love today – you helped make Steph’s day that much more lovely!
Mini is the best! These look so delicious…. I could eat a SHED load of these x
These are so cute and a fabulous idea! What size round cutter did you use? 3 inch? smaller? bigger?
I used a 4 inch biscuit cutter :)
These are just sooo adorable! Plus, I love the vanilla/strawberry flavor combo!
xo, Elisa
These cakes are too cute and just so beautiful!!!
This is gorgeous! I think I’m making these next week for a girlfriends baby shower!
These cakes are just so sweet, like you & your baby Hugo!
Don’t forget to enter in my giveaway – I’ve got 3 prizes and it ends tomorrow @ midnight! xo
LOVE****how would you transport these, if say you made a bunch?
Hi Kelly- I think I would get one of those aluminum lasagana containers and pipe a dot of frosting under each cake to help it stay. The frosting may rub from one cake to the next, so I’d do a rustic style frosting like I did so it doesn’t affect them too much :)
I see something similar being perfect as a first birthday cake! Or a 28th birthday cake. For my birthday next year. Just saying. :P
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I agree, mini things are amazing (I am especially fond of baby shoes personally). Mini cakes are the best because they look beautiful and have that built-in portion control that I absolutely have to have.
What size jelly roll did you use? Going to make this ASAP for a spring treat!
I used a quarter sheet pan