Sponge Cake

Sponge Cake

A very tasty , Sponge like textured Cake can be done at home will little effort.  Major part of preparation is beating eggs.  If you have Stand mixer or Hand mixer for beating eggs, making Sponge cake is very very easy. 

But you can also do the same , even if you don’t have any electric mixer.  But don’t use food processor or mixie for beating eggs. 

If you don’t have stand mixer or hand mixer , it’s better to beat eggs with hands. 

As I don’t have electric mixer, I beat eggs with hands using wire whisk.  It may take time to beat eggs but still the effort we put will give excellent result in the form of very soft, spongy and tasty Cake.

Sponge cake can be prepared without eggs but the result will not be the same.  I don’t want to compromise in texture or taste, so I opted to make Sponge Cake using eggs.

Recipe:

6 : Eggs

87.5 grams ( 100 grams minus 2 tbsp) :  All-purpose flour / Maida

12. 5 grams (2 tbsp) :  Corn flour

1/4 teaspoon : baking powder

1/4 teaspoon  : salt

200 grams :  granulated white sugar, divided

1 teaspoon :  vanilla extract

2 tablespoons :  water

2 pinches : Zest of a lemon  or orange (outer skin)

3/4 teaspoon: lemon juice

. Grease the baking tin with oil and then dust it with the flour.

First we have to Separate Egg Whites and Yolks.  Separate the cold eggs, placing the yolks in one bowl and the whites in another bowl. Cover the bowls with plastic wrap and bring the eggs to room temperature (about 30 minutes).

Meanwhile sift and weigh the All-purpose flour.  Again, sift the sifted flour with corn flour, the baking powder and salt. Set aside.  

Beating the eggs:

      Place the egg yolks and 2/3 cup (135 grams) of the sugar in the bowl .  Using egg beater ( wire whisk ) , Beat on high speed until they are thick, fluffy and light colored (when you slowly raise the beater the batter will fall back into the bowl in a slow ribbon). Then beat in the vanilla extract, water, and lemon zest. Set aside while you beat the egg whites.

     In a clean bowl using separate clean wire whisk , beat the egg whites until foamy. Don’t use the same whisk which is used for beating egg yolks.  Even a small amount of fat will prevent egg white to form good consistency.

 When the egg form foamy with log of bubbles, add the lemon juice and continue beating until soft peaks form. 

Gradually add the 1/3 cup (65 grams) of sugar.  Add 2 tbsp of sugar at a time. Let it mix nicely. Then add next batch of sugar.  Don’t pour all the sugar at a time, at one place.  Continue beating until the egg whites are shiny and just form stiff peaks. The process may take 4 to 5 minutes if done in electric hand mixer or stand mixer.  It may take 20 minutes , if you do it with your hand with egg beater.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Sifting flour is to get air trapped inside so don't miss the step. Sift the flour mixture over the beaten egg yolks (about one third of the flour mixture at a time) and gently but quickly fold (with a wire whisk or rubber spatula) the flour into the egg yolk batter.

Then gently fold a little of the beaten egg whites into the batter to lighten it, and then add the rest of the whites, folding just until incorporated. (Do not over mix the batter or it will deflate.)

 Pour the batter into the greased and dusted baking pan, smoothing the top.  Don’t fill more than half of the tin.

Bake in preheated oven @ 180 degree C,  for 28 - 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and immediately invert the pan on the greased wire rack. (turn upside down).

 Allow the cake to cool completely before unmolding (about one hour). 

You can be able to unmold easily .

After Unmold... Back side of the Cake

Optionally you can remove the top layer of the cake . The cake can be served plain with a dusting of powdered sugar , sift powdered sugar on top of the cake. Can add fresh fruit and softly whipped cream.  Or can even dust,  Bournvita / Boost ( which we use for mixing with milk ) on top of sugar dust.  

Dusted with powdered Sugar.

Added Fruits as toppings

Dusted with Bournvita 

·       Lemon zest : Keep the Lemon in freezer for half an hour and grate only the top, yellow portion to get lemon zest.  Don’t grate white parts as it may taste bitter. 

·        Orange zest : For Orange , just grate the orange portion of the skin.  Don’t grate white portion.

How to Beat Eggs with Hands

BEATING EGGS WITH HANDS

·         Beating egg whites with hands.

·         The Right Bowl

• Use a small deep bowl with a rounded bottom for four to five egg whites or a large, deep bowl for more.

• A copper bowl is ideal, since it will react chemically with egg whites to form fluffy, high peaks.  

• When using a stainless steel or glass bowl, add cream of tartar or lemon juice to achieve the same result as with a copper bowl

Avoid aluminum bowls which can cause whites to turn gray and wooden bowls, which tend to absorb oils from other usages and can retard your whipped whites.

• Bowl and beater should be completely clean and dry. 

The Right Eggs

• Fresh eggs will achieve the fullest volume as they are slightly acidic and this helps stabilize the proteins. As an egg ages, it slowly becomes more alkaline, which makes the proteins less stable. 

• The addition of an acid will fluff up your whipped egg whites. It stabilizes the whites and adds volume. Add 1/8 teaspoon of acidic ingredient (such as lemon juice, vinegar, or cream of tartar) per egg white, except for meringues, where 1/8 is used for two egg whites. The acid should be added to the whites just as they begin to become frothy during beating.

• You will get more volume when beating egg whites if you first bring them to room temperature. Set the eggs out on your counter at least 30 minutes in advance of your preparation. For a quick method, place the eggs in a bowl of very warm, but not hot, water for 5 to 10 minutes.

• If your recipe calls for the eggs to be separated, do this when the eggs are cold. Separate Eggs and Yolks carefully. 

Separated egg whites should not have any traces of egg yolks.   Beating egg will take time... minimum of 20 minutes , if it is done by hands.  Egg will raise nicely , i.e. you need more space .  Take big bowl and big egg beater. Beat egg nicely, with a very good speed.  Don’t give stirring movement.  You have to literally beat them.  While doing so, keep turning the bowl to get it mixed nicely while beating.  

When beating egg whites, at first you'll have a puddle of clear liquid with some large bubbles in it.

As you continue beating, the liquid will become opaque as it forms many more, smaller bubbles

If a point forms and then falls over immediately, the egg whites are at a soft peak, where the tip will bend . It may take time to get this consistency... be patience.





soft  Peak

From here, 20 to 25 more strokes with a whisk will bring you to a medium peak, and another 15 to 20 strokes to stiff peaks.






Stiff  Peak

According to the recipe…. Keep beating till you get soft or stiff peaks.



·         Use within 10 minutes.   The more you keep it as it is, the more the air gets escaped from the beaten eggs. 

Beating Egg Yolks with Hands :

Beat the yolks in the same procedure as beating egg whites, in a high speed.

If specified in recipe , add sugar and then beat.

For making ribbon,  yolk should be beaten till it changes its colour,  become thick and will fall like Ribbon , if you pour.

How to separate Egg Whites and Yolks

We generally separate egg whites and yolks. 

Reason may be , we want to avoid fat ( yolks ) or may be some recipe demand to do so.

Let it be.   Let’s find how to separate egg whites easily using empty plastic , water bottle.

Eggs taken out from fridge is the best option to remove whites and yolks easily.

If the eggs are in room temperature, keep it in fridge for some time and then break it.

egg white

yolk in plastic bottle

First carefully tap and open the egg and pour gently the content into a plate.  Now take a water bottle ( plastic ) … now squeeze the bottle to let air out…  remain the position and let the mouth of the bottle rest on the yolk nicely and gently pull out  , to let air inn.   By doing so , automatically , egg yolk will be sucked into the bottle leaving only the egg whites in  the plate.  To take out the yolks from bottle, just squeeze out and pour yolk in the bowl. Keep Egg whites separately and Yolks separately in clean bowls and use.  



Isn't it simple ? .  Try it out... you will love to do it again... how playful it is  :-D . 

Fruit Cake

Eggless Fruit Cake

 

 Ingredients:

 1 cup -- all-purpose flour

 1/2 cup -- sugar

 1/2 cup -- unsalted butter

 1/4 cup -- whole milk

 2 tbsp -- raisins

 2 tbsp -- glazed cherries

 1 tbsp -- honey

 1/2 cup – fresh curd

 1/4 tsp -- soda-bi-carbonate

 1/2 tsp -- baking powder

 

 Method:

 

 Preheat the oven on 'convection' at 180 degree.

 Sieve flour, soda-bi-carbonate and baking powder in a bowl.

 Beat butter and sugar well. Add honey and curd to it and rest of ingredients to the cake batter.

 Grease the baking dish & pour the batter into it.

 Bake at 180 degree for 30-35 mts on the lower rack.

 Cool the cake on the wire rack for 10 mins.

 

I would like to hear from you...  Kindly share your thoughts here, as a 'Comment' . Thank You.


 

Honey Coated Dinner Rolls

Honey Coated Dinner Rolls.

( Recipe Courtesy …   Julissa  Roberts webpage.)

 

1-1/2 cups :  Milk

2-1/4 tsp. :  instant or active dry yeast

 1/4 cup :  vegetable oil

2 Tbsp  :   unsalted butter

 1/4 cup  :  granulated sugar ( 50 grams )

 5-1/4 cups  :   bread flour

 1-1/4 tsp. :   salt

 1 :  egg

 

 Make the dough: 

 In a small pan, heat the milk until Luke warm. Remove from the heat and whisk in the yeast until it dissolves. Add the oil and butter—the butter may begin to melt, but it’s OK if it doesn’t melt completely—and then whisk in the sugar. Let rest until the yeast just begins to float to the surface, about 5 minutes.

In a big bowl …combine the flour, salt, and egg. Add the yeast mixture and mix on low speed with a large spoon until a coarse ball of dough forms, about 1 minute. Let rest for 5 minutes.

 

 Knead on a lightly oiled work surface until the dough feels soft, supple, and pliable, about 3 minutes; it should feel gluey to the touch, but not sticky, and pull away from your finger when poked instead of sticking to it. If the dough is too sticky, add 1 Tbs. flour at a time, kneading to incorporate. If it’s stiff, knead in 1 Tbs. of milk at a time.

 

 Stretch and fold the dough over itself from all four sides to the center, crimping it where the folded ends meet, to form it into a tight, round ball.

 

 Put the dough seam side down in a lightly oiled bowl that’s twice the size of the dough. Tightly cover with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature until doubled in size, about 90 minutes, or refrigerate for 1 to 4 days so that it slowly rises to double its size.

 

 Shaping:

We can bake like a small bun or can shape as per our wish.

I have given 3 examples on how can we shape them…. ( Detailed instruction on how to shape at the end of this post )

1.  Rose 

2.  Knotted

3.  Butter flakes

 

 

 Let the rolls sit at room temperature until they just begin to swell, 30 minutes to 1 hour for room-temperature dough, 1 to 1-1/2 hours for refrigerated dough.

 

 Baking the rolls:

 Preheat oven @ 190 degree.... bake the shaped rolls for 12 to 15 mts.

 After removing from oven apply melted honey on these rolls and let it cool on wire rack.

 

 

SHAPING:  

1.  Shaping like Rose : 

 

 

Take ball size dough.

Divide them into 5 pieces.

Roll one piece just like a thin cylinder.

Roll the rest of the pieces like roti / disc.  You will get 4 disc .

 

Keep all the discs overlapping one over the other.

 

At the end keep the thin cylinder shape .

Now start rolling from one end to another like a mat .

 

Divide the rolled mat into 2 equal parts.

 

Keep the chopped end facing bottom so that you can have a nice rose like shape on front view.

 

 

Shaped roll is ready.

Make all the pieces of dough into rose like shape and Bake them.

 

2.   Knotted dinner rolls.

 

 

With your hands, roll one piece into a 12-inch-long rope. If the dough starts to stick, mist your work surface lightly with vegetable oil spray or wipe it with a damp towel. Don’t use flour.

Wrap the dough around your fingers into a loose knot; there should be about 2 inches of dough free at each end.

Wrap the left end of the dough up and over the loop.

Wrap the right end down and around the loop. Lightly squeeze the two ends of dough together in the center to secure them.

Gently squeeze the whole piece of dough into a nice rounded shape.

Make all the pieces of dough into knotted rolls and Bake them.

 

3.  Butter flakes Rolls.

 

 

Form a smooth round ball .

Using kitchen scissor, cut through the top center of the roll, almost all the way through, leaving about 1/4-inch of dough at the bottom to hold the two halves together. Cut one of the halves twice more at 1/2-inch intervals parallel to the first cut.

Make all the pieces of dough into butter flakes rolls and keep them in muffin pan and Bake.

 
I would like to hear from you...  Kindly share your thoughts here, as a 'Comment' . Thank You.