The Perfect Sponge
After many years of trying and failing to make the perfect sponge cake I think that I've finally found that elusive, no fail, super tasty sponge cake recipe that I've been searching for.
Each year I attempt to make a sponge cake with varying results, ranging from "epic disaster" to "not quite right" and after each attempt I vow never to waste my time and money trying again.
The inspiration for this cake came to me when my good friend gave me a couple of duck eggs. I've never cooked with duck eggs and to be honest I didn't find the idea very appealing.
But after spending 2 weeks in my fridge I decided that I'd better use them up before they turned bad. What to make? I questioned myself and it was a toss up between a pavlova and a sponge cake. Obviously the cake won out.
Ingredients
2 duck eggs (at room temperature)
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup self raising flour
4 tbs water
1 tbs butter
Method
1 - Preheat oven to 170oC fan forced (all ovens run at different temperatures so it might take a bit of trial and error to find the correct temperature for your own oven)
2 - I like to crack my eggs into a bowl one at a time and give them a good sniff just to make sure that they have not gone off. I've been caught out with bad eggs before and this has become a habit of mine.
3 - If they look and smell good then add them to the bowl of a mix master.
4 - Beat the eggs on a high setting and slowly add the sugar while the machine is running.
5 - After all of the sugar has been added beat on high for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes the mixture should have increased in volume and be nice and thick.
6 - Meanwhile, sift the flour into a bowl at least 3 times.
7 - Put the water and butter into a small microwave safe container and heat for about 10 second until the butter has melted.
8 - Sprinkle the flour over the top of the eggs and use a hand whisk to gently fold the flour into the egg mixture, at the same time slowly drizzle the liquid into the batter so that it gets folded through as well. The main thing is not to knock out the air from the eggs.
7 - Grease 2 round cake pans and put half of the mixture into each pan (I only have one pan so had to bake one half at a time, in hindsight I should have weighed the batter because I divided it by eye and one cake used 1/3 of the batter and the other 2/3 so I ended up with an uneven looking cake, but the important thing is that it tasted great).
8 - Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. When you can see the edges of the cake pulling away from the pan then it is cooked.
9 - Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
10 - Place the bottom layer onto a plate and smear with jam. I used my homemade Strawberry jam which gave the cake a really nice kick.
11 - Then add the whipped cream, I used 500ml and added 1 tbs icing sugar to sweeten it.
12 - Place the 2nd cake on top and press it down slightly and then dust the cake with some icing sugar.
13 - Now for the best part. Enjoy the cake with a nice cup of tea!
I think that this recipe would work equally well with chicken eggs, use 4 eggs instead of the 2 duck eggs. Below is a picture of a duck egg and chicken egg side by side to give you an idea of the size difference.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do.
Xxx
Each year I attempt to make a sponge cake with varying results, ranging from "epic disaster" to "not quite right" and after each attempt I vow never to waste my time and money trying again.
The inspiration for this cake came to me when my good friend gave me a couple of duck eggs. I've never cooked with duck eggs and to be honest I didn't find the idea very appealing.
But after spending 2 weeks in my fridge I decided that I'd better use them up before they turned bad. What to make? I questioned myself and it was a toss up between a pavlova and a sponge cake. Obviously the cake won out.
Ingredients
2 duck eggs (at room temperature)
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup self raising flour
4 tbs water
1 tbs butter
Method
1 - Preheat oven to 170oC fan forced (all ovens run at different temperatures so it might take a bit of trial and error to find the correct temperature for your own oven)
2 - I like to crack my eggs into a bowl one at a time and give them a good sniff just to make sure that they have not gone off. I've been caught out with bad eggs before and this has become a habit of mine.
3 - If they look and smell good then add them to the bowl of a mix master.
4 - Beat the eggs on a high setting and slowly add the sugar while the machine is running.
5 - After all of the sugar has been added beat on high for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes the mixture should have increased in volume and be nice and thick.
6 - Meanwhile, sift the flour into a bowl at least 3 times.
7 - Put the water and butter into a small microwave safe container and heat for about 10 second until the butter has melted.
8 - Sprinkle the flour over the top of the eggs and use a hand whisk to gently fold the flour into the egg mixture, at the same time slowly drizzle the liquid into the batter so that it gets folded through as well. The main thing is not to knock out the air from the eggs.
7 - Grease 2 round cake pans and put half of the mixture into each pan (I only have one pan so had to bake one half at a time, in hindsight I should have weighed the batter because I divided it by eye and one cake used 1/3 of the batter and the other 2/3 so I ended up with an uneven looking cake, but the important thing is that it tasted great).
9 - Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
10 - Place the bottom layer onto a plate and smear with jam. I used my homemade Strawberry jam which gave the cake a really nice kick.
11 - Then add the whipped cream, I used 500ml and added 1 tbs icing sugar to sweeten it.
12 - Place the 2nd cake on top and press it down slightly and then dust the cake with some icing sugar.
13 - Now for the best part. Enjoy the cake with a nice cup of tea!
I think that this recipe would work equally well with chicken eggs, use 4 eggs instead of the 2 duck eggs. Below is a picture of a duck egg and chicken egg side by side to give you an idea of the size difference.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do.
Xxx
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