A Simple Sponge Cake

We had a bit of a celebration here over the weekend and I made this simple sponge cake, filled with jam and iced with unsweetened, fresh cream and a circle of tiny chocolate buttons. Simple and soooo good!

A slice of a simple &  scrumptious sponge cake.

Iced with fresh cream, tiny chocolate buttons & a flurry of chocolate flakes.

The recipe for the sponge cake is just a doubling of the base cake for this cheesecake sponge. You need eggs, sugar, plain and self raising flours, cornflour and lots of whipped air! 

Here's the adjusted recipe for the sponge:

Grease and line a medium-sized round cake tin. Preheat your oven to 180C. Beat 4 eggs until thick and creamy. Gradually add 2/3cup caster sugar while beating until sugar dissolved. Gently fold in 4 Tablespoons each of sifted plain flour, self raising flour and cornflour. Spoon mixture into prepared cake tin and spread evenly over base. Bake for approximately 20mins. Remove from oven when lightly golden. Rest cake for a few minutes before turning out cake and cooling on a wire rack.

Beat eggs 'til very frothy.

 Beat in sugar until pale and creamy.

Sift three flours into whisked eggs & sugar. 

Fold flours gently into  

 Pour mixture into prepared cake tin.

Bake until lightly golden.

Once the sponge cake has cooled, you can make it into something special in lots of different ways. I chose that classic combination of strawberry jam, cream and a little chocolate for my cake:

 Cut cake carefully in half and spread with jam.

Spread reassembled cake with very thickly whipped cream. 

Grate dark chocolate over the cream & add a ring of tiny chocolate buttons.

Sponge cakes, all light and airy, are just perfect for special celebrations. Instead of icing with thick cream, you can dust them with icing sugar as Cheryl, over at A Simply Good Life, did for her birthday high tea. Or perhaps, instead of strawberry jam, you'd rather fill them with slices of fresh strawberries to make a strawberry sponge cake like the one Rhonda, over at Down to Earth, enjoyed for her special birthday this year. Next time I make a sponge (...I'm just waiting for any excuse...), I think I will fill it with cream and drizzle tangy passionfruit icing over it to make this delicious looking Passionfruit Sponge I found over at SBS Food. How utterly indulgent!

The next "excuse" for sponge cake here will coincide with an almost-80th birthday to be celebrated in July. Best save some passionfruit pulp in the freezer for that occasion!

Meg