Basic Sponge Cake

Sponge cake is the basic of all the cakes. Its got the minimum ingredients required. My earliest memory goes down the lane when i was a kid and we were treated with this cake made by mom. Then slowly a slice of this cake arrived in the market for only Rs 2! I use to buy a slice and share it with my brother or friends on our way back from the school.

This was my very first attempt to make a sponge cake......infact the very first dish out of the oven! I was nervous yet confidant about the recipe. This recipe was given to me by a dear friend from Netherlands.

The trick is to keep it quite light and fluffy so that it could be rolled into a swiss roll.

The Making:

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour- 1 Cup (Approx 125gm)
• Baking Powder- 1tsp(5gm)
• Butter(unsalted & melted)- 1/4th cup (31.25gm)
• Eggs- 7 yolks(medium sized)
• Sugar- 1 cup
• Milk(room temp)- 1/2 cup
• Vanilla essence- 3/4th - 1tsp(you need this much so as to conceal the smell of eggs)

Procedure:

1. Pre heat the oven at 180 Degree celcius for about 15 mins(dont overdo as the results might differ)
2. Grease a baking tray/tin(rectangular or round). You could also put a butter paper at the bottom.
3. Sieve the flour and baking powder together.
4. Add the butter & vanilla essence to the milk.
5. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks till thick, if you are using the hand blender beat it in medium for about 5-7 mins and is using the whisker beat it for 20 mins. Add the sugar slowly and beat it for another one minute till it becomes a homogenous mixture.
6. Pour the egg mix into the flour, fold it couple of times very gently then pour in the milk mix, and fold for couple of times to make a smooth paste.
7. Pour into the prepared tray/tin.
8. Bake for about 30-35 mins at 180 degrees
9. Cool the cake in the tin on a wire rack for about 10 mins.
10. Remove from the tin and cool completely.
11. You could decorate your sponge cake with icing sugar or home made whipped cream.

Enjoy!