Sponge

I am a keen baker, and have over the years been perfecting my own sponge recipe which is prepared most frequently as cupcakes.  I'm interested in perfecting the ideal sponge and my own version is a traditional mix which starts with a creamed butter and caster sugar mix.  When I saw a sponge recipe in Chrissie's notebook which followed a method of whisked eggs first mixed with the caster sugar, I was curious to try it to see whether it should impact my own sponge recipe.  This is a fairly common method followed by many as it offers a light and fluffy sponge....let's see.

As with many others in Chrissie's repertoire, the instructions were limited, the recipe written as follows:

Fellow baker, Pamela
Abernethy

Sponge

4 eggs, separated

4oz self-raising flour

2 oz cornflour

4 oz caster sugar

Vanilla

1/2 oz of butter

4 tablespoons of boiling water

Beat egg whites stiffly

Whisk in sugar till glossy

Whisk in yolks 1 by 1

Fold in flours

Melt butter in water and add

Bake in 2 tins for 20 minutes

My mother, Pamela Abernethy, provided a helping hand in this cooking experiment.  One of the basic, yet crucial techniques for any baker is the whisking of the egg whites.  For anyone who is unfamilar, my mother has provided her top tips:

We were nervous to add the melted butter in case it did remove the air from the batter, but a quick stir in prior to transferring to our pre-greased tins did the trick.  We used two 8" tins, however with hindsight 7" would have been preferable.  We baked at approximately 325 degrees farenheit (using an Aga so temperatures are never guaranteed).  Again, would have preferred a hotter oven - perhaps 350 degrees.  Due to the heat of the oven, the cake did not develop a particularly deep golden colour, so we perhaps over baked it.  I wouldn't expect this cake to take much colour, nor did it rise a great deal.  I would suggest baking for 15 minutes and testing it after that point to see if it's ready.

The results were good, a very light sponge and quite a structured sponge, maintaining its shape.  I imagine this method would be effective for a more formal celebration cake such as a wedding cake.  In memory of Chrissie, we sandwiched the sponge with a raspberry jam and whipped cream filling and dusted with icing sugar.  It went down very well!