18/05/2010 13:09:00

Easy Peasy Sponge Cake

This recipe comes from Dorling Kindersley's Children's Baking Book. I wanted to try it because it's a 'lob everything in and mix' recipe which anyone can do. The recipe says that you can use the same mixture for either a Victoria style sandwich or individual fairy cakes.

The Recipe 175g softened butter 175g sugar 3 medium eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract 175g self raising flour 1 tsp baking powder

This recipe is frankly so easy and quick that you must remember to put the oven on to preheat before you start or it won't stand a chance of warming up enough. The oven should be at 180 degrees C (Gas Mark 4).

The only faintly arduous thing in the recipe is making sure your butter is softened. Mine wasn't so I had to cube it and then do the Dance Of The Microwave Butter Soften, opening the door so often to stop it melting that it feels like you're going backwards in time.

Anyway Anna was my cook for the day and she did everything in this recipe with no help, except for helping her to level the tablespoon of baking powder. She put the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla into the bowl. then sifted the flour and baking powder over the top. Then mixed. No creaming the butter and sugar, no folding in, just lob it all in and mix. I did advise her to start the mixer on a very low setting and build up so all the flour didn't fly everywhere but that was the limit of the technical expertise needed.

Then we divided the mixture between two greased sandwich tins and cooked for 25 minutes, until they were springy, and took them out to cool.

The recipe also gives you instructions to fill the two layers with jam and buttercream. So Anna made the buttercream with 50g softened butter, 125g icing sugar, 1/2tsp vanilla extract and 2 tsp of milk.
 

It was quite a lot of buttercream for a slim cake and a little on the sweet side, but no one complained! We did choose damson jam instead of strawberry to combat the sweetness though.

The cake came out very nicely. Not big and fluffy like a Victoria sponge, but then I don't like those made-of-air-and-dust cakes. They're gone too quick and the kids manage to spread them over the entire universe. This was a sweet, eggy, sponge cake which took the filling well and was easy to make.



The Verdict

10/10 Anna (6) "As nice as the chocolate cake." (which to the uninitiated is like me saying "as good as Leeroy Jethro Gibbs", that is, nigh on perfect)
9/10 Jacob (8) "Really nice. Sticks to the top of my mouth."
8/10 Dad "Really really good" Said through a mouthful of cake. Dad is obsessed with Victoria sponge cakes so this is praise indeed.
8/10 Mom "Very tasty sponge, not just there to carry the filling. REALLY easy to make. Filling a little sweet, but the sponge has a nice slight sugary crunch on the browned top. Could make this often."

 

 

 

 

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