Berry Pretty Sponge Cake

What better way to celebrate spring than with a ridiculously easy and pretty, spring-time inspired cake? This one was the result of a beautiful jar of berry jam from the Burrawang General Store, gifted to us by our beautiful neighbours, coinciding with my husbands birthday, so our little girl and I decided a berry sponge would make a perfect birthday cake.

It’s a classic; fluffy sponge, filled with a layer of oozy jam, big dollops of whipped cream and a layer of fresh strawberries. The sponge recipe is from the basic sponge cake on taste.com.au only I had run out of cornflour so did half & half of the plain flour and self raising flour. The sponge turned out a little more moist than previous sponges, like this ruby grapefruit sponge, and it didn’t rise quite so much, but we all loved it! Almost more than the other sponges I’ve done.

You can find the original recipe here on taste.com.au or follow the instructions for this variation on the original, below.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup plain flour

1/2 cup self raising flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 x eggs (at room temperature)

2/3 cup of caster sugar

pure cream (must be full fat as lite cream won’t whip)

icing sugar for dusting

berry jam (or jam of your choice)

strawberries (or berries of your choice)

METHOD

Step 1

Grease 2 x deep, 20-22cm round cake tins (or different tins, as directed in individual recipes) and line bases with baking paper. Sift flours and 1/4 teaspoon salt together three times to aerate.

Step 2

Preheat oven to 180C. Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar in a large bowl on medium-high speed for 6 minutes, or until mixture is thick, pale and tripled in volume.

Step 3

Gradually sift flour mixture over egg mixture while simultaneously folding in with a large metal spoon until just combined. Divide mixture between prepared tins. To level batter, gently spin tins on kitchen counter. Bake for 20 minutes (or as directed in individual recipes), or until cakes have shrunk away from the sides slightly and spring back when gently touched.

Step 4

Turn out on to baking paper-lined wire racks. Carefully peel away baking paper, then leave to cool.

Step 5

Once cakes are cooled, spread bottom sponge with a layer of berry jam, then sliced strawberries and whipped cream, then top with 2nd sponge. Decorate with few fresh strawberries and a dusting of icing sugar.

Happy baking and happy spring!! N x