Basic Sponge Cake

I am transforming the thought process of making a layered cake into the actual thing. A predictable sponge cake,  which is the foundation of my layered projects, has so far eluded me until I chanced upon this recipe. Had Sonia not shared this, I would still be feeding the bin with my deflated versions.

This is by far the most promising recipe yielding predictable results. It is good to be eaten on its own or the launch pad for some fancy layered cake. Here, I made a modest layered cake using whipped cream in the middle and lemon curd on top.

Recipe, with slight modifications, from Sonia of NasiLemak .

Ingredients and Logistics :

9 inch cake tin

2 mixing bowls

Egg batter :

5 yolk ( small )

20g caster sugar

50 g soya oil

60 g low fat milk

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

90 g cake flour

White batter :

5 whites ( small )

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

50g caster sugar

Method :

The following steps refer to the components for making  yolk batter .

Bowl 1 :

Use a hand whisk, whisk yolk and sugar until sugar dissolves.

Add oil. Whisk to emulsify.

Add milk and extract. Whisk to combine.

Sift in cake flour.

Use the hand whisk and fold in the flour.

Set aside.

The following refer to the components for making  white batter.

Bowl 2 :

Add the cream of tartar to the whites.

Whisk at low speed until foamy. About 1 minute.

Gradually whisk in the sugar. Whisk at high speed, about 5 minutes, until the white batter is stiff.

Final combination :

Preheat the oven to 140C.

Transfer a third of the white batter to the yolk batter.

Use a hand whisk and gently fold in the whites to lighten the batter.

In 4 batches, using a spatula and  transfer the white batter to the yolk batter. 

Fold in the whites  until combine.

The final batter should be a homogenous pale yellow color.

Transfer the final batter to the 9 inch pan.

Bake the cake in a preheated oven at 140C for 25 minutes.

Finally, bake at 170C for another25 minutes.

Cool the cake , together with pan,  on a rack.

Run a thin spatula around the edges of the cake.

Remove the cake and cool in the rack.

Optional :

Halve the cake horizontally.

Apply whipped cream.

Replace the top layer of the cake.

Apply lemon custard.