cake-meets-trifle

Traditional sponge cake is light and fluffy, with a fine texture, small bubbles. Tales abound about the best method to get the right result. Fillings in WI style versions include jam, or jam and cream. I recently savoured a family version made by Layla which had chocolate buttercream as well as cream teamed with strawberries in the sandwich, with cream and strawberries on top, together with shavings of white chocolate. That was very acceptable... I'll check if she took any pix before the ravening hoards disposed of it.

Cake-meets-trifle is a lemon sponge sandwich, filled with raspberry jam, whipped cream and strawberries. I sometimes use raspberries inside too, but they are very juicy and squash easily. The lemon sponge has lemon zest and lemon juice in it, which gives a wonderful tang that contrasts wonderfully with the soft and sweet filling. Sometimes I just dust the top with icing sugar, and sometimes I put more cream on top with some more fruit. If the cake is chilled it holds together better when it is cut. All in all, this is my most requested cake.

The original recipe I used was an all in one sponge, ideal for a food processor. I don't use one at the moment, so I have gone back to following the traditional approach, creaming the butter and sugar together, then adding the eggs and beating them in one by one, followed by the flour. I used self-raising flour, and add a little more baking powder to add a bit more lift. The zest is added to the butter, and the lemon juice is added right at the end.

Ingredients

zest of 1 lemon
200g  sr flour
200g fat (butter or margarine)
200g sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
juice of 1 lemon

raspberry jam
double or whipping cream
punnet of strawberries

Method

Heat oven to 160 degrees

grease and line 2x8" cake tins 

• cream sugar and fat with zest
• add eggs blending one by one (add spoonful of flour if mixture splits)
• add sifted sr flour blend, adding lemon juice as you go
• spoon mixture dividing evenly between two lined tins 
• bake for 20m and check by inserting a skewer, cake is ready when skewer comes out cleanly and the cake is drawing away from the sides
• whip cream, cut strawberries in half, removing leaves
• when the cakes are cool, remove from tin, peel off lining paper, spread jam over base sponge, spoon cream on and lay cut strawberries on top, lay top sponge on top
• sprinkle with icing sugar if you fancy it

this quantity makes a good size cake, if you want a monster cake use 8" tins and double the quantities

Cake meets trifle, smiling

Many people think cake making is a mysterious art. This seems to be driven by an unhappy equation: desire for cake over failure in baking. I have experienced this, in the distant past, when I forgot essential ingredients like baking powder or sugar, and more recently when a cake failed to meet my expectations. Fortunately on these latter occasions, the enthusiasm of those eating the cake reduced my disappointment.

Making cake requires a degree of concentration, and the core ingredients, usually these are fat, flour, butter, sugar and eggs, with flavourings. The basic sponge recipe is for every egg you should use 60g each of flour, sugar and butter. For a 20cm/8" cake (top and bottom) I use six eggs. That is a handsome cake, enough for 8 greedy people who really like cake.

cake meets trifle, birthday treat

Everyone should have a birthday cake on their birthday. It is a small offering, it is a chance to take a god-like pause. Birthdays come around more often than weddings, or at least weddings where you are the bridegroom or bride. In Schultz's Peanuts, Linus always took a day off on his birthday, I used to read the cartoon strip and think that it looked a bit boring. Now I think it is a small gesture of indulgence, and one that we should all try, some time.

As someone who bakes cakes, I greedily grab the chance to make that moment happen. Last week I made chocolate nemesis for my friend, Alex. Today I am making a concoction I call cake-meets-trifle for my pal Margo. It's a cross between a Victoria Sandwich and a trifle, but I've junked the custard. Nothing else about this cake is reduced. It is not a cake to eat without a plate and cutlery, unless you like licking your fingers and wearing a bib.

Recipe follows with pix.