The Luscious Sponge (birthday) Cake

Sometime ago a good friend, named U, invited me for a casual birthday get-together. She knew I could bake and hence requested me for a birthday cake instead of a cake from a local bakery. I was glad she asked as I consider baking an enjoyable task! So I asked her, "What kind of a birthday cake do you want and what is your favourite cake?" U looked at me and responded back with a question, "What kind of cake do you enjoy baking?" Hmm! U always had a sweet tooth, that much I knew. And the other thing about her is she would always be grateful whatever you served her and you could be rest assured that she would eat her plate clean! 

There are so many choices of cake: the butter, the roulade, the sponge, the fruits, the vanilla, the chocolate, the coconut, the mint, the almond, the pavlova, the trifle, the pudding, the pastry... just to name a few! Poor U, she couldn't make up her mind! She looked at me and said: I WANT IT ALL!

Her choice was not a difficult challenge. I had this idea of making this sponge cake and turning it into a delicious, creamy, fruity, custard(y),yet not so sweet and not so heavy. When I revealed the idea to her for sure she had never tasted it before.

I had found this sponge cake recipe from The Great Cakes by Barbara Maher. Starting with this simple plain sponge cake recipe I planned to stack them with thick layers of custard, cream and frozen berries. YUM!

I doubled the quantity of ingredients of the original recipe to get a "thicker and higher" sponge cake to allow me to divide it into two layers. Oh, by the way I modified the recipe slightly by adding less sugar and completely omitted the Kirsch-flavoured syrup (it wasn't available at the supermarket). Instead of  fresh berries I have chosen frozen strawberry and blackberry.
 

Here's what you need:

A 22" round spring form baking tin  that is greased

Baking time: 35 - 40 minutes

Oven temperature: 180C/350F/gas 4

Makes 8 - 10 slices

The Sponge Cake

Cake ingredients:

120g plain flour

120g potato flour

150g icing sugar (sifted)

5 eggs, separated

pinch of salt

2 tbsp lemon juice

For the Filling and the Decoration:

500g of mixed frozen berries add 3 tbsp castor sugar

450ml custard cream

450ml double cream, (Add 4 tbsp castor sugar, whip until soft peak)

icing sugar

Here's what you do:

1. For the cake, sift the flour and potato flour together three times, this will produce light and airy mixture which it suitable for layer cake that require a firmer sponge.

 

2. Reserve 3 tablespoons of the icing sugar. Whisk the remaining icing sugar and the egg yolks together to the ribbon stage.

3. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites and salt into soft peaks. Sift over the reserved sugar and whisk until they form slightly stiffer peaks. Fold in the lemon juice.

4. Stir 2 large spoonfuls of the egg white into the egg yolk mixture to loosen the texture. Gently fold in the flour, carefully fold in the remaining egg whites, taking care not to knock out the air.

5. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the center of the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

6. Remove from the oven and leave to rest in the tin for 5-10 minutes. Turn out on to a wire rack and leave to cool.

To finish the cake

7. Slice the cake horizontally into two layers. Pour  half of the custard cream on the bottom layer, then half of the whipped cream. Carefully spoon half of half thawed frozen berries evenly over the whipped cream.

8. Cover with the top cake layer and press it down lightly so that the fruit becomes embedded in the cream. Repeat the same procedure, layer with custard, whipped cream then the frozen berries. Let it sit for an hour or two, dust lightly with icing sugar just before serving. Enjoy it!

The Almighty Plants in the Almighty Pots

A backyard garden was one of the primary requirements in our house hunt when we moved to the Northern Beaches in Sydney 12 years ago. Placing potted plants around the house in nooks and crannies is one of the solutions to brighten up a dull space. I no doubt had my favourite ones among the many beautiful pots in the garden. Finding just the right pot for the right spot around your house or garden is no mean feat!

I spent many months visiting various nurseries to find the perfect pots. You have to consider the color, the shape, the size and of course the price! After all these factors have been considered, the next challenge is to find the perfect plant for this perfect pot! What color? Should it just be a plain green plant or a flowering plant. So on and so forth!

Each plant  has its own story to tell!

The pots that I had chosen were mostly terracotta in different shapes and sizes and the blue-glazed ones. Here, on the man made plateau, these big blue glazed pots are seen grouped together. 

Next, I went hunting for these perfect plants. I got them when they were quite small and usually from the local markets such as the Saturday Market near Narrabeen Lakes or Avalon Beach. Once in a while, I was lucky to find a winner from the local supermarket in Warriewood.

This a so-called 'ponytail' palm that was bought 8 years ago. Unfortunately, for the first 3 years of its life it was hidden amongst the big bushes and never had a chance to grow. Sometime less than 2 years ago I  re-potted it into this bigger plastic container which I found in the Salvation Shop.

Well, I should have changed it into a bigger pot, but never got to do it.

Take a look at this tall handsome Agave which was presented to me by some good friends about 7 years ago when they were young saplings. These tall and elegant terracotta pots were bought after making several trips to the same nursery. They were located near the pool. It certainly gives a laid back Mediterranean atmosphere! Lovely!

I bought the baby yucca for only 5AU$. With just a few drops of water it is growing at a rate faster than you can think it possible! After 9 years, this has grown to become an eight footer and showcases five separate trunks!

Bougainvillea, needless to say one of my favourites! I just cannot live without it! They are so hardy and has so many colors to choose from! I found these in a nursery on the way to Manly. These were the 'Bambino", the very slow grower, which grow to around 1.5 m (5 ft) tall in vibrant pink and red colour.

I always had Jade Plants /Money Trees (crassula ovata) in my garden, even in our hay days in Denmark. But I never knew such succulents had related family members such as these that I found at the local market. This is quite similar to the Jade except the leaves are much smaller. Not sure what it's actual name is, but they were so easy to keep. It is hardy and just a few buckets of water and it can grow fast and tall. In order to reach this height you have to keep on pruning. I had the Aeonium and Jovibarba  planted around the Jade plant.

This 8-year-old Frangipani was moved around at least 5 times, I expected it to die.

   After I replanted it into this big terracotta, within a few months it grew into a giant! The flower blooms were a combination of pink and yellow and appeared rosie and were wonderfully fragrant!! I wished for it  to bloom non stop!

Another favorite plant of mine - The Golden Cane Plant which can be found all over the Northern Beaches. They are either planted on the ground or in the pots.

All the pots and plants had to be given away before  we left for Malaysia.. Sob Sob...!

Who says you need experts to move a piano from the container to the living room floor??

The container arrived at Port Klang, Malaysia from Sydney, Australia without any complications or delay. It was mid-morning when the phone rang informing me of it's arrival. Within two hours the same 40-footer container from Sydney arrived at our driveway...

 

There were 6 men to help to unload our treasures which was packed some five weeks ago... 

unpacking some flower pots.

As they were unloading, suddenly the Almighty Piano "the Kawai" appeared... at its almighty height!! Oh goodness me, what was I going to do with it?? The men looked at me..what now?? How..?? I panicked a little and didn't know what to do... honestly, with all the commotion, I had completely forgotten that the Almighty Piano WAS in the container!

Oh dear me, how about the safety issue to be considered and from that height! These removalists had no safety belts or any other "mover's" equipment to help to bring down this heavy wheeless almighty monster. (When we packed in Sydney, the removalists had all kinds of safety gear and tools to assist them. And mind you, even the container was on the level floor, the removalists had the safety belt on in order  to lift the Piano up onto the container ( as per requirement in the Aussie law).

Quickly I instructed the men to make use of the blankets as a sort of "protection". So the blankets were placed underneath the piano, and in this way the Piano could be pulled to the edge down from the container. From there, without any further discussion or instruction, the men carried the Almighty Piano down from the container!!

... within a split second, the Almighty Piano was on the ground!!!

Quickly a layer of 'blanket' was placed on the floor so that it could be pulled into the house without scratching the floor...

The whole process of removing more than 155 boxes, containing clothes, shoes, books, kitchen utensils, gadgets, toys, sofa sets, beds, book shelves, flower pots, pictures, chairs,
sewing machine, lamps, the Almighty Piano and many other treasures...
with 6 men, took just 3 hours!

A thousand thanks to the men who helped to empty the container.  Well done!!

Continued.....

The task of loading of a 20footer container requires the utmost precision and professionalism.

As you can see the following pictures how it was done.

Within minutes, the 20footer was loaded.

 

All these took less than 10 minutes!

Packed and ready to move.

THE BIG MOVE

It took 6 people and 3 days to fill and pack the container ourselves.

They were packed with newspaper, blankets, boxes, plastic rolls, bubble plastic, blankets, pillows, towels and bedspread.

It was filled with all our treasures of 30 years.

From Denmark to Australia and then to Malaysia.

The container was so packed that, there was no way we could open the door without being slow and careful so that the content would not pour out instantly!

Finally THE big day came. The trailer arrived at the appointed time.

We were so worried that how this huge monster of 20footer container, was going to be loaded into the trailer/lorry without scrapping or damaged the drive way??

As you can see from the above picture and the following pictures, the driver was revising the tail of the trailer/lorry, trying to reach and touch the tip of the container.

 

 

 

 

 

 











 



It was all about professionalism and precision, with just the press of the remote, the whole commotion took place only last then 10 minutes.

The container sat precisely the exact space allowed on top of the trailer and we signed off the consignment and within seconds, it drove off and was out of our sight.