blueberry sponge, caramel buttercream and a mango tart

Normally I wouldn't suggest any sort of a baking mix, as I always pride myself on my made-from scratch cakes, cookies and pastries. But making this sponge cake involves so many steps that I don't think you can rightfully call it a mix-cake, even if it does use a special flour. None of the one bowl mixing you normally expect from cake mixes. And to be fair, it completely deviates from the recipe printed on the flour bag.

I saved this recipe from my Secondary Three home economics textbook...it was the only cake I truly loved baking in class. The buttery smell that emanated from the ovens was enough to make me forget the trials and tribulations that had to be endured in that awful class- at least for a bit. And its really the perfect sponge cake...light and yet, with enough texture to chew through. I love making it... and this time I frosted it with the buttercream recipe from last week's cupcakes, except that I modified it a little to make it caramel flavored. I substituted teh white sugar with brown to give a earthy-caramel taste, and also reduced the butter by half, just cos I thought adding the entire amount too cloying. And I also had a small tub of blueberry filling sitting in the fridge so decided to sandwhich the sponge halves with it. The result was a really delicious, almost sinfully creamy dessert. I made the cake today morning, and already half has dissapeared...with only my dad and I in the house! haha. We're so gonna fall over with coronary disorders..

So here it is, the famous Optima Sponge Cake from my good 'ol home economics teachers. The Optima and Hongkong flours can be gotten from Cold Storage, and the butter oil from Phoon Huat, fyi.

Blueberry Sponge Cake (makes one 8" cake)

4 eggs, seperated

75ml corn oil

50ml water

3/4 tsp butter oil

50g Hongkong flour

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

100g Optima flour

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

50g caster sugar

- Grease and line the base and sides of a deep 8" round tin
- Preheat the oven to 170 degree C
- Mix together the eg yolks, oil, water and butter oil in a small bowl
- Sift the Hongkong flour and bicarbonate of soda together. Stir in the Optima flour, without sifting it. Mix the wet ingredients into the flour mixture until a thick batter forms.
- Whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. Add the sugar by tablespoonfuls, whisking well after each addition to ensure the sugar is dissolved.
- Fold the stiff meringue into the batter gently and pour the batter into the tin. Bang the tin once on the edge of a counter to remove any big air bubbles.
- Bake for 35-40 mins, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in tin for fifteen minutes before turing out and peeling off the paper.

Caramel Buttercream

2 egg whites

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup + 1 tbsp butter, softened

1/2 tsp vanilla

- Whisk egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water until sugar is dissolved and the mixture is warm, about 2-3 minutes
- Beat mixture with electric beaters until stiff. Add butter in tablespoonfuls until combined. Add vanilla and beat on low speed until it thickens up...about 5-10 minutes.

Assembly:
- Slice cooled cake in half. Sandwich with blueberry filling.
- Frost top and sides of cake with buttercream. Pipe rossetes along the edge of the cake and fill centre with bueberry filling if desired.

sans blueberry topping

On another note, I also made a mango custard tart last week. I did not fancy the flavor much, so I'm not inclined to talk much about it. Although, it did look nice, so I'm just putting up the pictures. Testament that one should not judge by appearance. My morality contribution of the day. *grin*