Butter Vanilla Sponge Cake

It's been awhile since I last posted here. Possibly because I am too engrossed with my current obsession which is my @HoneyBeeSweets.sg instagram. I guess one can only cope with so much. With the amount of work I have daily, I amaze myself sometimes how I am able to do what I do. But I always believe if you are passionate about something, you will always find time for it no matter what.

Writing this post with a heavy heart because something unfortunate happened today. But I am trying hard not to think about it and take it as a lesson learnt. Money lost but all is well, so that is all that matters the most.

Sharing with everyone today my new found love, an excellent sponge cake recipe that really wowed me. I am sure many of us has this problem of having a coarse tasting sponge or deflated cake etc, endless problems. When I tried this out (for the first time mind you), I was too just as skeptical and didn't expect much from it. But it turned out GREAT. The cake did not deflate when it came out from the oven. It has no cracks after baked. The sponge was actually fluffy and soft. One word...PERFECT. I was so happy with it and have to record it here. 

Just take a look at the cake yourself. Cake-fection!

The sponge texture was excellent. It holds up really well. Even when you pressed it, it springs back almost immediately. So much love for it. And because of the baking techniques used here, which is steamed baking, the cake stayed moist! This recipe will be perfect for that multi-tier cake you have been thinking. It will hold up nicely for you!

Here is a look at the birthday cake I made with this sponge cake. Really tall...like a tower haha.

I am sure you all are eager to know how I made this. So here is the recipe! 

Butter vanilla sponge cake (makes two 8"by2" or three 6"by 2" rounds)

Egg yolk batter

90 g unsalted butter

130 g cake flour (80 g + 50 g)

1/2 tsp baking power

1 vanilla bean pod, opened and scraped out beans

6 large egg yolks

90 ml fresh milk

Egg white batter

6 egg whites

110 g caster sugar

• In a heatproof pot, add in butter and heat over medium fire. Once all butter has melted and started bubbling, remove from fire and pour in 80 g cake flour in and whisk till smooth.
• In a separate mixing bowl, crack the egg yolks in and scrape the vanilla beans into it. Whisk to combine.
• Add butter flour batter to egg yolk mixture and whisk both together till smooth. 
• Add in milk, mix well till no lumps. Then finally the 50g flour with the baking powder. Again whisk till smooth with no lumps.
• Preheat oven to 150C with water bath. Line and grease two 8" round cake pans with parchment papers. I did a 6" by 3" round and a 6" by 1.5" round this time.
• Beat the egg whites with sugar till firm peaks. Then gently fold in the whites to the yolk batter in 3 separate folds. Make sure you don't over mix it and deflate the meringue. 
• Pour the batter in the prepared cake pans and bake in water bath for 55-60 mins. Using toothpicks to check for doneness. Clean toothpick means done.
• Let cool completely before unmoulding or slicing. Enjoy!

Not too complicated isn't it? The main difference was cooking the butter till it bubbles and added the flour to it. Almost like cooking the batter before meringue was added. The cooked flour actually stabilises the batter and thus making the sponge a much resilience one...can I use resilience? hahaha

Hope this recipe works out just as nicely for you as it is for me. And I am all ready to replicate it again using other flavours. So stay tune on my instagram to see more about my upcoming bakes. ;)

Thanks for reading guys and have a good week ahead.

Stay positive and happy baking all!