No one makes sponge cakes anymore. In fact, that particular joke from the Amelia Bedelia books was completely lost on me as a child. (When instructed to make a sponge cake by her employer, she cuts up a sponge and puts it in a cake. Until a few years ago, that's what I would have done.)
The other day we found ourselves with a plethora of eggs thanks to the CSA egg share we bought this summer. As a baker, there are several things you can do to use up eggs like pastry cream and lemon curd. But if you're baking something and you don't feel like claufouti (it's like a sweet quiche), cake is best way to go and no cake uses quite as many eggs as sponge cake.
We recently had a dessert at The Girl and the Goat restaurant in Chicago--one of the most popular restaurants in the city--and it was so delicious I proposed to the pastry chef. (The pastry chef was a woman, so I guess it would be a civil union. They're finally legal here in Illinois--YAY!) It consisted of spongecake, lime curd, whipped cream, strawberries and a flash-fried basil leaf. Why not try and remake this fabulous dessert? Well, not entirely. The season for strawberries is over, but cherries are in season and cherries and limes go well together.
So let's make sponge cake--sponges not included. I'm using the Moist Sponge Cake recipe from James Peterson's Baking.
Butter and flour for the round cake pan (or not)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk or heavy cream
3 tblsp butter
3 whole eggs, warmed*
3 egg yolks, warmed*
3/4 cup plus 2 tblsp white sugar
3/4 cup cake flour (yes, cake flour)
*Eggs froth up better if they're warm. If you're making this sponge cake in the winter or in a cool house, place the eggs in a bowl of warm (not hot) water for about 5 minutes. You can stick the egg yolks in a small covered container and do the same. It's summer here and our 8th day of 90+ temps, so I just left them out in our kitchen for a couple of hours.
Remember eggs are best separated when they're cold, though.
If you're making a sheet cake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a 13"x17" sheet pan with parchment paper. I'm making a 9" round cake, so preheat the oven to 350 degrees. The instruction in the recipe is to butter and flour the round cake pan. I prefer to spray the pan with EverBake, place a round piece of parchment paper in the bottom and spray the top of that. Who wants a film of flour on their cake? Ick. You can pick up EverBake online at the King Arthur Flour website. Why buy this instead of PAM that's cheaper and you can pick up in a local grocery store? First of all, it works better when it comes to release. I've tried PAM with a variety of cakes and it's hit or miss. Sometimes the cake releases okay and sometimes it doesn't. It's scorchless, so it won't turn your pans dark--this is a big deal to me since I buy commercial-grade pans (the shiny kind) since they brown the cakes more evenly. Also, it lasts way longer than anything I've ever bought.
Combine the vanilla, milk and butter in a small saucepan, bring to a simmer, and cook just long enough to melt the butter. Remove from the heat and set aside. Normally, when I'm baking, I bust out my All-Clad copper core, but this is a tiny job. My little Faberware non-stick will work just fine.
Place the warmed eggs, egg yolks and sugar into the bowl of your stand mixer, snap in your whisk attachment and mix on high speed for about 4-5 minutes or until the batter hits the "ribbon" stage. (more on that in a minute) I hope you've got a stand mixer. It takes about 12 minutes if you're whisking constantly by hand (but you'd better have the biggest biceps known to man), and about 20 minutes with an electric hand mixer. Why so long with the hand mixer? Good question. Probably because most hand mixers don't have a whisk attachment and the whisk is what incorporates all that air into the eggs to make them light and fluffy.
The "ribbon" stage is when the beater is pulled up and the batter pours slowly from the beater into a figure 8 that stays on the top of the batter for several seconds. Also, the mixture looks kind of like this:
Once you're at the ribbon stage, carefully transfer the egg mixture into a large wide bowl. This helps when it comes to incorporating the flour. Pour the milk/vanilla/butter mixture that you melted down the side of the bowl and carefully fold it into the egg mixture.
Folding... There is no way I can describe to you what this is. I recommend doing an internet search for videos that show the process. If I had a videographer, I could have taped myself doing it, but folding isn't really something I can do one-handed and I'm not Zaphod Beeblebrox. (That's a nerdy Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference...he had three arms.) Basically, it's gentler way of stirring to make sure that we don't deflate our eggs too much.
Once the milk/vanilla/butter mixture is incorporated, sift the cake flour over the entire surface of the batter IN THIRDS (this is why the wide bowl). Fold the flour in until it's fully incorporated before adding more. Did you hear me? Fully incorporated! This is not a cake mix. This is not a muffin. Lumps of flour will NOT bake out. They will stick in your cake and mock you. At the same time, try to not deflate the eggs! It really is a delicate balancing act. And no, I’m sorry, I don’t have any pictures of this process. Not having a third arm really cuts into my ability to take pictures and bake at the same time.
Once all the flour is incorporated, pop it into your pan and, if you're doing the 9", toss it in the oven for 25 minutes. If you're doing the sheet pan, pour it into the pan, then take your clean finger and make a moat around the sides so that the cake doesn't stick to the sides of the pan as it bakes. The sheet pan only bakes for about 12 minutes.
The cake is done after it feels firm to the touch. It doesn’t really spring back like you’re used to, but it should hold up against a light touch.
And here’s the finished product! It's delicious, moist and fluffy soft. This is cake you'll just want to eat plain. You have been warned!
Sponge cakes are a tradition in our family, as a birthday cake. It usually has jam (I think you call it jelly over the pond :-) ) and butter-cream in the middle, and perhaps chocolate on top. Your way of doing it sounds brilliant, and the finished product looks lovely!
ReplyDelete(Glad I've found your blog!) xxx