Little Spring Cakes

I hadn't baked a cake for a while so yesterday was the day. It's warm here and was not a good buttercream day but I soldiered on.

 I just used a basic yellow cake recipe from King Arthur Flour.  I use small springform pans and and small bowls.  Just make sure to coat them thoroughly with butter and flour before adding the batter.

Recipe:

• 1 cup (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached Cake Flour
• 1 cup milk

Instructions

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Lightly grease your choice of pans: one 9" x 13" pan; two 8" or 9" round cake pans, or the wells of two muffin tins (24 muffin cups). You can also line the muffin tins with papers, and lighly grease the insides of the papers with non-stick spray.
3. Beat together the butter, sugar, baking powder, salt, and vanilla, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed, until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes on medium-high speed of an electric mixer.
4. Add the eggs two at a time, beating the batter well and scraping the bowl between each addition, until fully combined and the batter has thickened.
5. Stir in half of the flour, then all of the milk, followed by the rest of the flour, scraping the bowl after each addition. Mix just until combined. The batter will look curdled after the milk addition; that's OK, it will come back together once the rest of the flour is added.
6. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans, spreading it level.
7. Bake the cake until golden brown — 40 to 45 minutes for a 9" x 13" pan; 36 to 42 minutes for 9" pans; 38 to 44 minutes for 8" pans, or 24 to 30 minutes for cupcakes. The center of the cake should feel firm when gently pressed, and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.
8. Remove the cake from the oven. Allow it to cool completely in the pan, then loosen the edges with a knife and gently remove from the pan. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

 Cool them on racks.

 Make some buttercream and divide it into bowls so you can color it.

 When the cakes are cool, slice them through the middle and spread them with vanilla flavored simple syrup  and raspberry jam. Top this with some buttercream and spread it to the edges.

 Place the tops on the cakes.

 Spread the sides with buttercream and then pipe flowers on the tops of each cake.

 Fill them in with green leaves.  Frosting covers lots of flaws!  I always sit each one on a square of waxed paper while I frost them.  I sit them in the fridge for a while and they can be lifted off easily with a spatula.

 One went to my daughter on another thrift shop find.  I love picking up fancy plates for next to nothing to place baked goods on when I give them away.  Then you don't have to worry about getting your plate back.

These went to The Blog Tech and his wife. She worked out of town all week and I wanted to give her a surprise when she came home.  I'm sure at least two of these are no longer on this plate this morning.