rophil.co.uk

A VERSATILE SPONGE CAKE

INTRODUCTION

I would love to claim that this recipe was my own invention, but alas, that would be lying. It actually came from a set of recipe cards that were given to my son many years ago. I have no idea why I decided to try this particular cake, but I am glad I did! One particularly nice feature of this cake is that it ages very well. After it has cooled, the top on the cake may seem a little dry. Worry not, however. If you store it overnight in an airtight tin, you will find that it becomes moister. This gives the chocolate version an appealling fudgy quality.

Over the years, I have varied the exact ingredients I use, but in general the relative quantities remain the same. Everything marked with a star in the ingredients list can be changed. Details of some variations are given at the end of the recipe. Feel free to get creative...

INGREDIENTS

  225 grams   soft brown sugar*
  225 grams   unsalted butter/margarine

  200 grams   self raising flour (seived, if you are feeling virtuous!)
    4 tbs     cocoa*
    1 tsp     baking powder

    4 medium  eggs
    1 tbs     milk
    ½ tsp    vanilla extract* (NOT essence!)

EQUIPMENT

• A large mixing bowl
• A measuring jug
• Accurate scales
• Small whisk (or a fork!)
• Electric hand mixer
• A rubber spatula
• Two 8 inch round cake tins (loose bottomed, if possible) and greaseproof paper

METHOD

1. Grease the two cake tins with a little butter/margarine and line with grease proof paper.
2. Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 4, or 180 °C (160 °C for fancy-pants fan assisted ovens).
3. Cream the butter and sugar together, stopping occassionally to scrape down the mixture from the sides of the bowl. Stop mixing when all is well combined and has a light, airy texture. If using refined caster sugar, the colour of the mixture will be lighter than that of the butter you started with.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and cocoa, seiving if you can be bothered
5. Break the eggs into the measuring jug and beat lightly with the milk and vanilla essence.
6. Combine the egg/milk/vanilla mix with the creamed butter and sugar, and beat well. This is best done slowly: add a quarter of the egg/milk/vanilla to the butter/sugar, dust with a tablespoonful of the flour/baking powder/cocoa mix, and beat until mixed. Repeat until all of the egg mix has been added. Trust me, this will give you a much nicer batter than simply beating all of the egg mix in at once as it reduces the risk of the eggs curdling when they mix with the fat in the butter. The batter should be light in texture and velvety; if the eggs curdle, you will end up with a mixture that looks like scrambled eggs. The cake will still be fine, just not as light and delicious as it could have been.
7. Add the rest of the flour/baking powder/cocoa mix and fold in gently using the spatula. In this case "fold" means run the spatula under some of the wet mix and then twist the spatula so that the wet mix is placed on top of the dry mix. Don't overdo the folding; stop when the ingredients are just combined and no more, without obvious lumps, or the cake may not rise well.
8. Split the batter evenly between the two cake tins and level the surface. Weight the mix as you add it to the tins so you can be as accurate as possible. This may seem anal, but it is worth it!
9. Bake until the surface of the cake springs back when pressed lightly. Don't faff around sticking something into the cake to see if it is done – more than likely, the baked crust of the cake will wipe off the uncooked batter when you remove the skewer! The exact timing will depend on your oven, but is likely to be around 25–30 minutes. If you can, bake both cakes on the same shelf. If you cannot fit both tins on the same shelf, then bake them one at a time. Don't think you can bake them on two shelves and swap them over at half time. The one on the top shelf will rise much better than the one on the bottom as it will be hotter; the one on the bottom shelf will have crusted over by the time you swap them, and will not "catch up" after you move it.
10. Removed from the oven and cool for a few minutes in the tin – until you can handle it with a tea towel without suffering third-degree burns – then remove the cakes from the tins and cool on a wire rack.

Sponge cake freezes extremely well, allowing you to bake all the cakes you need in advance and freeze them until needed. Wait until the cake is completely cool, and wrap first in greaseproof paper, then in foil. Defrost for a few hours before assembling and decorating your cake as required.

VARIATIONS

This recipe works fantastically for fairy cakes (I refuse on principle to call them cupcakes!). Typically, 30 grams of better is enough for a standard fairy cake case, or 45g for a larger muffin case. Weighing cake batter is even more important for small cakes to ensure that they all bake at the same rate. Similarly, unless your oven is evenly heated, you may want to rotate the baking tray in the oven through 180 °C once the cakes are well risen to ensure even browning.

Bored of chocolate? Try another flavour...

• CHOCOLATE ORANGE SPONGE: Replace the vanilla extract with orange extract.
• CHILLI & CHOCOLATE SPONGE: Forget the vanilla extract, and add chilli powder to pep things up. Works especially well with a lime flavoured butter cream!
• "PLAIN" SPONGE: Replace the cooca with plain flour and the soft brown sugar with caster.
• ALMOND SPONGE: Replace the cooca with ground almonds and the vanilla extract with almond extract.
• MALTESER CAKE: Forget the vanilla extract and replace some/all of the cooca with Ovaltine or Horlix (or just use the chocolate versions of these), then sandwich together and top with Malteser Butter Cream.