Lemon Sponge Cake with Cranberry Topping

I rarely start a post with a picture of the slice, but this time, the inside was what was important! For a dinner among friends, I tackled a recipe I found on Indian Kitchen, for an eggless lemon sponge cake. When the cake came out of the oven, I was surprised at how nicely spongy it was.

The yellowish color of the crumb comes simply from the lemon. When we ate it, however, we deemed the cake a little on the dry side. Maybe infusing it with some juice after baking, or baking it for a shorter time would have remedied that.

The topping is a sauce I made with rehydrated dried cranberries and candied orange peels that I had made a few weeks ago. I just stuck a couple handfuls of chopped dried cranberries and some candied orange peels in a pot with some water, and simmered it all until all the dried bits were rehydrated. Then I added a bit of a slurry of cornstarch to thicken it up. After cooling, I topped the cake with the mix.

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RECIPE adapted from Indian Kitchen

  Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/3 cup yogurt
• 2/3 cup powdered sugar
• zest 1 lemon
• 3 tbs lemon juice
• 1/4 cup vegetable juice

  Procedure

1. Preheat oven 180˚C.
2. In a bowl, sift flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
3. In a mixing bowl, whisk yogurt and powdered sugar.
4. Add lemon juice and zest, and oil. Mix well.
5. Add in sifted flour mix, and mix until combined.
6. Pour into prepared pan and bake 20-30 min or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Cool in the pan for about 2 mins.
8. Unmold and cool on a cooling rack.
9. Top and enjoy.

Birthday Peach Cake and Apple Tart

On the first weekend of October, I went home from the university in order to have a late celebration for my mom's birthday. She intended it to be more of a day during which to get together with members of the family and just have fun together, but I had more of a birthday in mind. So when she suggested just buying some pie or something from a shop, I rejected the idea.

I wanted to try making a layered cake, so I tested out a recipe for a vegan sponge, but I am not 100% satisfied with it. I will try to play around with it some more before posting it. I made a double batch, which I cut in half. Then I decided I wanted a third layer, so I baked another single batch to put on top.

I layered the cake with whipped cream to which I added vanilla sugar, and with slices of canned peaches. I then covered the top and sides with more whipped cream and peaches! I had originally planned to make more decorations over the top, but ran out of time.

This cake was accompanied by my mom's favorite dessert: apple tart. I opted for several smaller roses in the middle instead of the usual huge one surrounded by apple slices.

Apple tarts tend to be well received, since they are so simple and fruity. Tutorial here~

Egg-free Berry Tiramisu with Génoise Sponge

 

We celebrated a late Fathers' Day (it was on the 8th, here in Belgium) yesterday, since my brother could not make it on the actual day. Due to the hot weather lately, I felt we needed something refreshing for dessert.

I settled for a tiramisu with homemade sponge. I used this recipe as a base for the egg-free génoise sponge cake, but subbed some vanilla extract instead of using strawberry flavor. I was also out if oil, so I melted some butter and used that instead.

I baked it flat, because I intended to cut strips out of it to roll into spirals to fit into the glasses. That originally beautiful plan fell through as the cake just broke while I was trying to roll it. Too bad. I then went and ripped it into little squares and soaked them in some mint tea I had made by steeping mint leaves from the garden in some hot water.

All this time, I was busy defrosting my frozen mixed berries (raspberries, currants, blackcurrants, blueberries, strawberries).

Then I beat some whipping cream into soft peaks, and mixed in some ricotta and some sugar.

Time to layer everything~ I put tea-soaked sponge in the glasses (I made 10 of them), followed by a layer of cream mix, topped with spoonfuls of berries. Then I repeated these steps, and used the last layer of berries to decorate.

I originally wanted to try and make hearts out of the round berries (currants, blackcurrants, blueberries), but it turned kind of messy, especially with the juice flowing everywhere. So I settled for a standing raspberry and a carpet of other berries. Due to the lack of color contrast, I decided to add a few mint leaves on top.

The effect would have been even better if there hadn't been juice flowing everywhere, but by that time, I was too dead tired to try and really drain every spoonful of berries.

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EGGLESS GENOISE SPONGE RECIPE

  Ingredients

• 1 cup (245 g) yogurt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup (111 g) oil
• 1/2 up (100 g) sugar
• flavor

  Procedure

1. Preheat oven at 200°C for 10 mins.
2. Sieve flour twice (I went for 4 times) then set aside.
3. Cream yogurt and sugar until sugar has completely dissolved. Add baking soda and baking powder, and whisk/beat for 2 mins. Leave aside for another 5 mins until bubbles have formed.
4. Add oil and flavor. Then add in flour little by little and beat until smooth.
5. Bake at 200°C for 10 mins, then reduce heat to 180°C and abake for 30-35 mins.