2013 Resolutions: Basic Sponge Cake

Sponge Cake.....:))))))))))
who doesn't like sponge cakes?? It should be simple and easy to bake right?
JS alwiz boast about his mother's aka HRH aka Her Royal Highness's sponge cake -_- so Monkey took up the challenge and did some reading about it. There's so many different types of sponge cake...an US and a UK one could be different...well let's not even go anywhere near to Italian and French sponge cake...

GAH!!! why so complicated?
Too much of analysis leads to brain paralysis...
soon Monkey's paralyzed brain just did the simplest thing......went to my book racks and retrieved past copies of my favourite gourmet magazine....and found a basic sponge cake recipe :))))))))

Rule number 1 *do I still need to mention it everytime?* is to preheat your oven to 180*C
then brush your pans with melted butter and dust them with flour. Line the base with baking paper.


Melt 80gm of butter and the most important rule here for sponge cake is not to use hot nor warm butter. You need to melt them in advance and leave it to cool. Else your sponge cake will be lumpy. So if possible this should be the first step.

Measure 240gm of Plain Flour and 3x sift it
It says that the flour has to be so fine....u need to sift it not one not two but freaking 3 times...
but I am happy to have all these gadgets and utensils for lazy ppl like me....dunk into the sifter, press the lever.....*sift sift sift*.....then transfer the sifted flour back to the lazy sifter and *sift sift sift*
again and again until I was yawning.......

Crack 8 eggs directly into your whisking bowl...
see I am freaking lazy so utilizing the most minimum tools and utensils is part of my goals here.

Add 220gm of caster sugar into the whisking bowl and scrap out the beans outta the Vanilla. I have mastered the art of scraping hahahaha...been using a lot of vanilla lately and JS's inventory of Madagascar Vanilla is getting lesser by the weeks in his pantry. He has yet to do a stock count :D
*oopsss*

Use your KitchenAid to whisk the mixture of eggs, sugar and vanilla beans for a few minutes until it turns pale, thick and tripled in volume like the above.
Easy eh??? :))))))))

Slowly sift in your plain flour into this mixture in batches. You want to introduce a lot of air into your cake mixture so that it will be light and fluffy so do everything with patience and calmness....no shortcut no hurry and no laziness to be executed here. Even if you can't add in air nor aerate your cake mixture, at least don't destroy the aeration created by your KitchenAid at the beginning.

Just slowly.....more yawns~~~~~~


Then bake them in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until light golden....
the centre should springs back when u press it lightly....
I was thinking how am I gonna stick my fingers into the oven to test if my cakes are ready or not...

No no no......I'm not gonna take the risk....so it's based on "feel"

Once these babies popped outta the oven, Monkey removed them outta the spring can, transferred them to the wire rack immediately, peeled off the baking sheets at the bottom, and inverted it back to the original position - top and bottom.

Eating a basic sponge cake would be so boring....
so I deviated >.< heeeeeeeeeeeee heeeeeeeeee

Melt about 150gm dark chocolates.....then dunk in 250ml pouring cream and the melted chocolate...whisk them together. If you like u an add in about 20ml of liquer....Monkey added in Cognac...wuahahahahaha. U just need to whisk them till it soft peaks. Finally add in 70gm of raspberry and keep this mixture in the fridge until it's firm.

Then assemble your cake once it has cool down
It looked so ugly -_-"
JS stared at it in horror O.O"

NVM I can do better next time in cake decorating and assembly.
Can anyone share with me recipe of cakes that need not decorating, easy to make, less washing to do, and looked pretty instantly??? I know.....drive out to WonderMilk and buy a cake!!!!! it probably cost less :P

Your sponge cake should be really really light and fluffy
the raspberry gives it the occasional texture and bite as u sink ur teeth into your piece of cake

 

JS had a slice and concurred his mother's sponge cake is still the best in the world
Monkey -_-"
when he finally retrieved HRH's recipe from her Recipe Bank which was locked in her vault......Monkey found out her's is a Genoise Sponge Cake.
Hey Mr. JS!!!! it's a different sponge cake ok!!!!
Genoise Sponge Cake involves hell lot of work....with bain marie...sabayon etc etc etc

This one was a Victoria Sponge, named of the Queen Victoria.
Very "Atas" one OK???

but nvm....I will take up your challenge again to attempt your mother's Genoise Sponge Cake.
Watch this space u ppl!!! grrrRRRrrrrrr

For a full and professional recipe of this Basic Sponge Cake, *click here*