So let them eat Cake!

/hihi

A hint of that Buttery-Vanilla smell and I melt. I feel like everything's right in the world. Like I'm in my happy, peaceful place.
Why does cake manage to evoke emotions like that?

(How I wish I could make my house smell like a bakery :D )

There's nothing as therapeutic in the world as baking.
The visual contrast of the soft white peaks of buttercream that dissappear into the dark of the chocolate. The tang of lemony zest as it hits the roof of your mouth. The feel of warm sponge on a cold morning. Just thinking about all this makes me crave another slice of cake!

For most people, baking is associated with tedium and stress. Do this and then do that, don't do this or the cake will collapse!

For me, baking should be quick (I'm looking at under an hour here) and effective. (I mean tasty stuff !) Thats why I'm gonna share this recipe with you.

It calls for :

1/2 Cup of Butter (Margarine will do just fine as well)
1/2 Cup Sugar
3/4 Cup of Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Cup Vanilla Custard Powder
1 tsp Lemon juice
Some Lemon rind
2 Eggs (Large-ish)

The steps :

1. Cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy.


Now listen up!
This is the part that we always ignore :( When we're supposed to beat the two till they're light and fluffy, why do we stop in between? If you have an electric beater like I do, just keep going for about 5 minutes. Whats happens if you don't get them light and fluffy? Well, the cake doesn't turn out right.
So just keep at it :)


Right now its all golden yumminess !


And now its all pale and delicate and pretty!


What happens is that the sugar crystals spin up the fat molecules and make them airy and light. Thats how you get the sugar mixed with the fat well, giving your cake an even texture.

2. In another bowl, sift the Flour, Baking powder and Vanilla Custard Powder. Sifting is important cuz it gets rid of all the lumps, distributes the raising agent evenly throughout the flour and contributes to a nice and fluffy cake !




3. Squeeze a whole lemon into the creamed butter and sugar. Grate some of the lemon rind into it. I feel that every cake does well with vanilla essence. It removes the eggy smell from cakes and gives them that soul-warming bakery air :) Add the essence now :)



4. After mixing all that, add one egg straight into the above mixture. Beat.



Doesn't it look awesome?

5. Add a few spoonfuls of the sifted flour and beat.


6. Now add the second egg, beat and gradually mix in all the flour.


You'll get a mix that looks somewhat like this ^
Feel free to have a taste!

7. Now I have a rice cooker, which actually does like loads of cooking and not just rice making ! Honestly, I love cooking with it and if you have seen some of my previous recipes (link here) they turn out pretty good!

Back to the recipe !

Pour in about a litre of water. As you know, its a steamed cake and its gonna have to cook for longer than the oven cakes cuz (you know this!) steaming is slower than convection cooking! Thus that litre of water.

Heat it up to a boil.

Add a small stand into it if you have one. If you dont, just place a medium sized bowl in the centre as your makeshift stand.

The water should be coming up to half of the cake mold.


I know, its a bit messy, but its gonna turn out just fine :)

8.  Put the lid on and let the cake steam for about an hour. If you do want to check on how the cake is doing, do so only after half an hour. Honestly, you can disappear on this cake and still have it turn out fine! No risk of burning here !


Tada! Isn't she gorgeous!

9. Now just de-mold it onto some kitchen towel, after it s cool of course!


10. Aaaaand drumroll please!



There you have it! A Lemon Sponge cake that you can brag about!

:P

/bye

One Response so far.

  1. While the process looks messy! The end result looks terrific! Great job. Come by and check out my blog. If you like it I would love it if you followed me.

    xo Andrea
    http://uskar-vor-inspire.blogspot.ca

Leave a Reply

Feel free to have your say! I do reply to each comment personally. :)

Live. Love. Eat.