Basic Sponge Cake Recipe

I use this sponge pretty much all the time. Very close to the kind of cake used in Chinese bakeries, and it's a good base for Birthday/Special Occasion Cakes, having a soft and light texture yet not too crumby for decorating. This type of cake is Low Fat, and not too sweet, suitable for people with special dietry requirements.

Will post recipe now, and pictures will come soon.

Basic Sponge Cake

Makes a 22cm Cake

4 Egg Yolks, room temp

60g Caster Sugar

50ml  Melted Butter

100ml Milk

1tsp Vanilla Extract

120g Cake Flour

1tsp Baking Powder

1/2tsp Salt

4 Egg Whites, room temp

100g Caster Sugar

1/2tsp Cream of Tartar

1. Preheat Oven to 180 Celcius. Line bottom of 22cm Spring form Cake pan with baking paper.

2. Seperate Eggs, placing Whites in a clean, dry bowl for later use. Whisk Yolks in a bowl with Caster Sugar until pale and creamy. Add Melted Butter, Milk, Vanilla Extract and blend. Sift in Flour, Baking Powder and Salt and mix until well incorporated, a smooth batter.

3. Make sure Beaters/Whisk is dry before whisking Egg Whites- hand whisk is not recommended unless you are prepared to have a sore arm. Add Cream of Tartar ( Helps whites reach Max Volume), Whisk until white and foamy, and Soft Peaks can be formed. Add Sugar gradually in by tablespoons while whisking until Stiff Peaks are formed.

4. With a Rubber Spatula, add 1/3 of Egg White mixture to cake batter, folding up and over gently. Repeat with the rest, mixing until just incorporated and no lumps are visible. It is crucial not to mix too much or too vigourously as the air previously incorporated will collapse out of the batter, and you will get a dense sponge.

5. Immediately pour into Cake Pan, shake and bang gently a few times to break big bubbles and level batter. Bake for roughly 35 Minutes on the middle rack of your oven, check it is cooked with a skewer which should go through cleanly if cake is cooked.

After taking it out, Invert/ Turn Upside Down on a wire rack- This will prevent cake from shrinking and air collapsing out of it. Leave to Cool Completely (about an hour) before using or serving.

Cakes Cakes Cakes

Here are a selection of all the cakes i have made since i started becoming obsessed with cakes and decorating, and causing the local patisserie to run out of business..... yeah right! The cakes I normally make are adapted for asian tastes- they tend to be much lighter and less sugary (chiffon sponge bases) when compared to that of western style butter cakes, and are usually decorated with fresh fruit and whipped cream- typical of the cakes found in chinese bakeries. Recipes will be posted soon.


Mango Sponge Cake





Chiffon Sponge Cake, filled with Whipped Cream and Fresh Mango Chunks, decorated with Mango slices and Dark Chocolate.




Strawberry Sponge Cake





Chiffon Sponge Cake, filled with Whipped Cream and Fresh Strawberries, decorated with more Strawberries and Dark Chocolate.




Mango and Strawberry Swiss Roll













 Chiffon Sponge Cake, filled with Whipped Cream and Fresh Strawberries and Mango, decorated with more Strawberries and Mango and Dark Chocolate.

Le Croissant! Quintessential example of French Buttery Goodness!

Melting , buttery, flaky crescents. Bake a decent, impressive batch of these and nobody will be able to question your baking skills.

Completely ecstatic at the results I achieved this morning from my first try. Could not have asked for better croissants- flaky, crisp on the outside and chewy layers of dough inside. Making Croissants are time consuming, yet the results you can achieve rival a good french boulangerie. Key to good croissants my friends, is patience.

Recipe for Croissants

Makes 20 small croissants (adjust sizes accordingly)

Dough needs either 1-2 hours Proof or Overnight

Folding and chilling process requires 1 hour of chilling

Final Rise for Croissants 1-2 hours

Dough

350g All Purpose Flour

200ml Milk, room temp (may need more or less)

8g Dried Yeast

1tsp Salt

2 tbsp Sugar

250g Butter, room temp

1 Egg, beaten with 2 tbsp milk

1. Preparing dough

Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl excluding milk. Gradually add milk while mixing until a soft, slightly sticky yet pliable dough is formed. Knead by hand or with a mixer and kneading attachment until soft and elastic, about 10 minutes.

Cover dough well in plastic wrap, and depending on time constraints can leave to proof for 1-2 hour at room temperature, or in the fridge overnight with gives better flavour.

2. Preparing Butter Sheet

On your worktop cut a large piece of plastic wrap and place butter on top, cover with another piece of plastic wrap. Gently press down on your palms to spread the butter, and begin shaping with the rolling pin into a large square, ideally just over 1/2 centimetre thick. TIP: I like to straighten sides with a knife and place the scraps back in the middle of butter sheet to be rerolled.

Chill in fridge until cold (15mins)

3. Folding and Chilling/ Laminating dough

Flour worktop well. Take out Butter sheet to rest for few minutes. Take out dough and roll into a rectangle roughly 2x the size of the butter sheet.

Place Butter Sheet on 1 half of the dough and cover with the other half.

Now we want to fold the dough like a letter: take the bottom third and fold 2x over to get 3 layers. You should get a smaller rectangle of dough.Cover and Chill for 20 minutes.

Take dough out and rotate 90 degrees from previous step, getting a taller rectangle. Roll out gently until roughly 1 1/2 cm , and repeat the letter fold. Chill for 20minutes and repeat once more. By now we should have 81 layers- 3 x 3 x 3. Wrap dough and leave overnight in the fridge.

4. Shaping Croissants

Flour worktop and take out dough. Divide in half to ease rolling.

Roll into a rectangle which is under 1/2 cm thick. Trim edges to straighten them and cut diagonals along length of rectangle, so you get pointy triangles. Size of triangles can be altered for preferred size of croissants.

To shape Croissants, take wide end of triangle with point facing away from you and roll up tightly. You can bend the ends together for crescent shapes, or leave them straight.

Arrange on a greaseproof paper lined baking tray, leaving a couple of cm around each croissant as they will increase in size.Cover trays and proof for 1-2hours, until size has roughly doubled and have a marshmallowy springiness when touched.

Preheat oven to 180 Celsius. Glaze croissants with prepared egg wash, taking care not to put too much as it may hinder the croissants rising. Bake for roughly 20 mins, until a golden brown colour. Cool and serve.

Notes

• Can add a teaspoon of chopped chocolate or cheese to triangles before shaping them
• Can cut into rectangles, fill with chocolate and roll over for Pain au Chocolat
• Pictures of Croissant shaping

Let me know how it goes if you do try this recipe.