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!
