I love sponge cake and wanted to produce some individual ones, so I started searching to see if there were any recipes out there. I found one on baking mad, which seemed ideal for my purposes.
So that is the recipe I used, except that I couldn’t find orange blossom water, so I had to improvise somewhat, using orange extract, orange peel and juice.
The recipe is quite straightforward to follow, and I have a cake pan with 12 straight-edged holes, and removable bottoms, so I was all set to bake.
It doesn’t take long to make the sponges, and they turned out very well. Once cooled it is simply a question of cutting into two layers, filling with buttercream and then icing. All very simple.
I am pleased with the results, a lovely soft and light sponge with a very nice filling.
Ingredients:
For the Sponge:
- 250g Unrefined golden caster sugar
- 250g Butter (unsalted)
- 4 Medium eggs(in US this would be large eggs)
- 1tsp Orange blossom water (I used 1/2 tsp orange extract with water added to fill the spoon)
- 250g Self-raising white flour
- 300g Icing sugar
- 150g Butter (unsalted)softened
- ½tsp Orange blossom water ( I used the zest of 1/2 an orange and 2 drops of orange extract)
- 100g Icing sugar
- Zest from half an orange
- Juice from the orange.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan 160°C, gas mark 4), and grease and base line a 12 hole loose bottomed cake tin with baking parchment.
- Place the butter and caster sugar in a bowl and cream together until pale and fluffy, then add the eggs one by one beating well in between each addition, then add the orange blossom.
- Finally carefully fold in the flour until evenly mixed.
- Spoon the batter into the cake tin until each hole is 2/3 full. Then place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean and the sponges are golden brown and springy to the touch.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool then use a small round ended knife to loosen the sponge from the side of the tin, then carefully remove each sponge from the tin and leave to cool on a cooling wire.
- To make the buttercream place the icing sugar and butter in a bowl and start slowly beating together, then turn the speed up and beat until pale and fluffy. Add the orange blossom water and beat again.
- When the cakes are cool cut each one in half widthways and spread a layer of buttercream on the bottom half of each one then place the lid on top.
- To make the icing place the icing sugar in a small bowl and add enough of the orange juice to get an icing with a thick pouring consistency. Drizzle a bit of the icing over each cake, letting it dribble over the edge. Finally sprinkle some orange zest on top to decorate.