Today I was inspired by the scorching spring sun to go back to basics and experiment with flavours. Although it is exciting trying out a new recipe or method, sometimes it is fun to go back to basics and experiment with traditional flavours.
The 'baiscs' for this recipe was a sponge cake. I cooked the sponge cake in a square tin which allowed me to cut out different shapes and designs of mini sponge cakes. I decided to focus on 4 traditional flavours; lemon, chocolate, coffee and Victoria Sponge.
Firstly I focused on making a good sponge cake. Many people would argue that a 'basic' sponge cake in an all-in-one sponge cake, but I believe that the best way to make a sponge cake is through the creaming method.
The 'baiscs' for this recipe was a sponge cake. I cooked the sponge cake in a square tin which allowed me to cut out different shapes and designs of mini sponge cakes. I decided to focus on 4 traditional flavours; lemon, chocolate, coffee and Victoria Sponge.
Firstly I focused on making a good sponge cake. Many people would argue that a 'basic' sponge cake in an all-in-one sponge cake, but I believe that the best way to make a sponge cake is through the creaming method.
CLICK HERE to see recipe (but emit the cocoa powder and cook in a 30cm rectangular tin)
Flavours:
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| Lemon Kisses |
LEMON: For some people (me included!) lemon can come across as quites bitter and strong. So for this one I decided to make small bite size 'Lemon Kisses'. I cut little hearts out of the sponge using a heart shaped cookie cutter and then pipped the middle with some lemon curd.
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| Victoria Sponge |
VICTORIA SPONGE: Always a delicious classic! It is universally agreed that a Victoria Sponge includes strawberry / raspberry jam but what you put with it is what is up for debate. Some believe nothing, others whipped cream and others a butter cream. I personally love whipped cream and raspberry jam!
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| Chocolate and Raspberry |
CHOCOLATE AND RASPBERRY: Here I tried something different. Once I had cut squares out of the tray bake, using a pointed knife I scooped out the middle and placed frozen raspberries in the middle. As the raspberries defrosted they seeped into the middle of the cake, creating a gooey raspberry centre. I topped this with a rich chocolate ganache, whipped cream and then some chocolate shavings.
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| Coffee Cake |
COFFEE CAKE: Another classic. I filled the middle of the cakes with a coffee butter cream (to make this add liquid coffee to plain butter cream). To create the marble effect I drizzled instant coffee over the warm sponge. It did give the cake quite a strong coffee flavour which wasn't desired but the cakes did look pretty good!
