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Sponge cake is like my favourite pair of skinny blue jeans.

Worn with a fitted t-shirt and ballet flats, my blue jeans are my everyday wardrobe staple, suitable for the school run, cooking in, writing in and shooting in. But dressed up with a pair of heels, a sheer top and sharply tailored jacket, my blue jeans are equally appropriate attire for dinner or drinks with friends.

Like my blue jeans, sponge cake is a great, everyday kind of cake; it can be whipped up without fuss using pantry and fridge staples. But dressed up with fresh berries and flowers sponge cake can also be served at a fancy afternoon tea or dinner party.

I’d never made sponge cake before I got my KitchenAid stand mixer because I’m an impatient person and the thought of mixing something with a hand mixer for ten minutes made me feel faint. I know, I know – totally #1stworldproblems, right?

So sponge cake is a brilliant cake for lazy bakers because it’s the stand mixer that does the heavy lifting.

A word of advice: sift all the dry ingredients. Usually, I ignore these types of instructions but it would be fatal to do so here. If you don’t sift the cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda you’ll end up with bitter little lumps baked into the cake here and there and it will totally ruin the experience for you. Trust me on this.

But sifting dry ingredients is a small price to pay for a cake that is otherwise so simple and straightforward.

To decorate this cake I’ve used a mixture of strawberries, dark cherries and blueberries. But use whatever berries you can find – raspberries and blackberries are equally good. The white flowers are from a coriander plant gone to seed at a friend’s house.

If you’re taking this cake to a friend’s house, take the baked cakes, a bowl of whipped cream and the berries with you and assemble it on the spot. The beauty of this fruit and flower decoration is that it should look natural and haphazard so you don’t have to worry about things like symmetry and perfect icing. Just start with the largest fruit first and then fill in the spaces with the second largest and so on.

Too easy, right? Perfect for so many different occasions, too. Just like my blue jeans.

Sponge Cake with Berries and Cherries

This recipe is adapted from the Pinch of Salt Sponge Cake recipe by Margret Green in Liz Harfull’s delightful Blue Ribbon Cookbook about prize-winning country show cooks by Wakefield Press.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar (caster sugar, regular sugar or raw sugar)
• 3/4 cup cornflour
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 heaped tablespoon plain flour
• 500 mls thickened cream
• 1/3 cup icing (powdered) sugar
• 1 punnet strawberries
• 1/2 punnet blueberries
• 120 grams cherries (2 handfuls)
• Coriander flowers or other similar flower (optional) to garnish

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
2. Spray two 20cm cake tins with baking spray or grease with butter or margarine.
3. Beat eggs and sugar for 10 minutes.
4. Sift cornflour, cream of tartar, bicarbonate of soda and flour into a medium bowl at least once but preferably thrice. The more times you sift the better the rise of the cake will be.
5. Use the beater(s) to fold the sifted, dry ingredients into the egg and sugar mixture gently, trying to retain as much of the air in the mixture as possible.
6. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Top should be springy and sides should be coming away with the pan.
7. Let cakes cool for 10 minutes and then remove cakes from tin and place on a tea towel on the kitchen bench. Cover cakes with the cake tins and leave them to cool completely.
8. To assemble, whip cream with powdered sugar until desired consistency.
9. Place one of the cakes  on a serving plate or cake stand. Using a spatula spread half the cream on the cake and use an offset spatula to smooth and tidy up. Place the other cake half on top and repeat.
10. Decorate with berries and herb flowers or similar (optional).

NOTES

• I used 2 x 20cms cake tins. Margret’s original recipe specifies 2 x 18cm cake tins so if you use these your cakes will be higher than mine (and more impressive!). If you do use 2 x 18 cms cake tins, you’ll need to increase the cooking time to 20-25 minutes.
• If you have a real sweet tooth you could spread a layer of berry jam on top of the bottom cake before adding the cream.
• This cake is best eaten on the day it’s baked.
• Serves 8-10.

More Cake Recipes

• Rosewater, Cardamon and Pistachio Cake
• Strawberry and Rhubarb Upside Down Cake
• J’s Chocolate Banana Cake (egg and dairy free)
• Upside Down Plum Cake
• Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

Disclosure

I was gifted both the KitchenAid mixer and The Blue Ribbon Cookbook in 2012. Also, I ate 3 pieces of this cake yesterday and my blue jeans are now tight.

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Hello! Sorry it’s been so quiet here this past week – I was working on a few different client projects and then I developed some kind of low-grade virus that made me want to sleep all day. Anyway, it’s been a while since I did these monthly favourite posts but I’m re-introducing them as of now. So here’s the list of things making me happy this month.

1) Custard apples

I shot four dessert recipes for the 2013 Australian Custards Apples campaign last week (two of my recipes plus two recipes by MasterChef winner and all-round nice guy Adam Liaw) so my house was full of this gorgeous tropical fruit (see above). If you’ve never eaten custard apples before now is the time to get your hands on some.

2) Heated hair rollers

I went out to dinner the other night with Shai and Celeste and when I walked into the restaurant they said I looked very “va va voom.” Admittedly, I had a rather nice dress on but it was actually my new sexy curls that were attracting all the attention. Ladies, if you have mid-long hair and don’t have a set of heated rollers, run to the shops and buy some now. You won’t regret it.

3) Kale

I have this weird aversion to trendy things. I read the first Harry Potter two years after it came out and it took me even longer to read the Twilight novels (I think you need to be under 17 to really appreciate them). I still haven’t read Fifty Shades of Grey but I’ve heard the writing is fairly atrocious so I’m in no rush. Anyway, to get to the point of this paragraph, I cooked kale for the first time a few weekends ago and I loved it’s strong, slightly bitter taste and thickly layered texture. I feel like Thelma in Thelma and Louise when she says, “now I understand what all the fuss is about!” after spending a night with J. D. (Brad Pitt). I cooked a warm purple kale salad with chorizo and almonds for Amazing Almonds the other day and a chorizo, chicken, white bean and green kale soup for our dinner.

4) Fantastic Mr Fox

The other night I watched a film about a fox (George Clooney) who wants to pull off one last robbery behind the back of his trusting wife (Meryl Streep). Based on the book by Roald Dahl, it’s so beautifully animated and so clever – I laughed out loud several times. It’s not really a movie for small kids as there are some scary bits but older kids will love its black humour. Check it out.

5) Divine Vegan Desserts

If you read my recent J’s Chocolate Banana Cake post you’d know that my son was recently diagnosed with an intolerance to dairy and egg. Well, it turns out my daughter also has this problem, too, which means a massive re-think of our diet. Luckily, Wakefield Press recently sent me Lisa Fabry’s Divine Vegan Desserts and it’s full of helpful hints and interesting recipes to try.

6) Denim shirt

I haven’t worn denim on my upper body since the mid 90s but I freaking love this slim-cut shirt and have been living in it lately. I wear it with my black J Brand skinny jeans and ballet flats for running around or my hot pink Diane Von Furstenberg skirt and heels when I’m going out.

7) Crepe pan by Profiline

I make pancakes at least once a week in my regular frypan so when Profiline offered to send me a crepe pan I was keen to see if it made any difference. The Profiline crepe pan is very well-made and incredibly light and thin. It produced beautiful crepes for me so it’s well worth a look if you make crepes or pancakes regularly.

8) Manfretto Tripod

I’ve used tripods in the past when shooting but they were flimsy, awkward devices and I soon gave up, reverting to only hand-held photography. Then a few weeks ago I bought a Manfretto 190X ProB, an incredibly well made and rock-solid tripod. Now I set up a complete scene and use the viewfinder on my tripod mounted camera to check that everything is in the best position before I start shooting. I then use the tripod to take both portrait and landscape shots of the scene before unclipping my camera (a Nikon D600) and shooting the rest hand-held. It’s like having an extra pair of hands in the studio and I can’t imagine shooting without it now.

9) Family

It’s been a challenging month on the personal front but my family have humbled me once again by the way they’ve pulled together and gone above and beyond to help out. You guys are my heroes and I love you to bits.

EDIT:

A Most Unexpected Surprise

My original post ended there. But yesterday I found out that The Hungry Australian is one of 25 finalists in the Best Australian Blogs 2013 competition run by the Australian Writers’ Centre. Yep, this humble little blog is one of five finalists in the lifestyle/hobby section, which covers travel, food and beverages, health, fashion, craft and interior design.

Wow. *pinches self*

Of all the amazing things that have happened since I started this blog this would have to be the most unbelievable. THANK YOU! *happy dance*

According to the Random House website, 1,122 blogs entered in this year’s competition and five finalists were announced in each of the competition categories: Lifestyle (408 entries), Personal/Parenting (350 entries), Business (84 entries), Commentary (119 entries) and Words/Writing (161 entries). Head over to the Australian Writers’ Centre website to learn more about the judging process.

When I began blogging in mid 2011 I saw it as a way of flexing my writing muscle, which had gotten stiff and clumsy out of disuse. Since then I’ve spent countless hours writing and blogging, all the time wondering if my words will have any impact at all. Now I still have a long way to go with The Hungry Australian but this nomination feel like recognition that I’m heading in the right direction at least. So I’m off to celebrate with a large bowl of noodles now!

Thank you for reading. You guys inspire me every day.

Christina xx

I love winter food and fashion but could do without the chill factor. All I want to do is stay indoors with the heating on. No wonder there are so many books on my list this month, but first up there is some very exciting news…

(1) Eat Drink Blog 3: the Australian Food Bloggers Conference in Adelaide!
Amanda from Lambs Ears and Honey and I recently received an unexpected email from the Sydney organisers of the second Australian Food Bloggers Conference. Trina, Simon and Jen wanted to know if we’d be interested in organising the next conference in Adelaide later this year. After discussing the idea with the Adelaide Food Bloggers Group we were delighted to accept! So if you’re an Australian food blogger, watch out for an official announcement soon. There will also be a number of excellent sponsorship options for companies keen to partner with Eat Drink Blog 3, so please do drop me a line if you’d like to know more.

(2) Sweet As Pie blog hop
Food blogger? Love pie? Then you must join us for this month’s Sweet Adventures‘ blog hop, Sweet As Pie. Hosted by the lovely KC at Capers of the Kitchen Crusader, this month’s blog hop is a celebration of pie in all its glory. So check out KC’s post, put on your thinking hat and get baking.

(3) Bedside table books
I’m reading a half dozen Australian cookbooks and memoirs at the moment thanks to Wakefield Press, Penguin/Lantern, and Hardie Grant. On my bedside table are Barbara Santich’s tome on Australia’s gastronomic heritage, Bold Palates, the charming Blue Ribbon Cookbook by Liz Harfull, Stephanie Alexander’s epic memoir, A Cook’s Life, the mouth-watering French Food Safari by Maeve O’Meara with Guillaume Brahimi, Barossa Food by Angela Heuzenroeder and Seasonal Fare by Susan Johnson.

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