Chocolate Sponge Cake

Chocolate sponge cake can be used in cakes where in you need to cut them to shapes or just layer it with icing/cake frosting.This goes with a ton of flavors like white chocolate buttercream,any ganache,dark chocolate icings,strawberry,cherry,raspberry buttercream etc.I made this for my husbands 30th birthday,the number 3 was a chocolate sponge cake with white chocolate icing and the right was a variation of Tiramisu(see recipe here)

Preparation time	40 minutes
Serves	2 6 inch round cakes or 1 serving 1/4 sheet pan
Serving Size	1/8 recipe
Calories Per Serving	Approximately 434 per serving
Difficulty	Medium

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter(1.5 sticks)

3/4 cup sugar+2 tablespoons

1 cup flour

4 eggs

3 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

pinch of salt

Procedure:

1.Preheat oven to 375 fahrenheit,line the baking pans with parchment paper. 

2.Sift the baking powder,flour,cocoa powder and salt together.

3.Whisk the butter and sugar for 5 minutes until creamy and combined.

4.Add 1 egg and 1/4th of the flour mixture and mix on slow,add another egg and 1/4 of flour and repeat until all flour and egg are combined.Add Vanilla essence and milk before you add the final batch of flour and mix until combined.Do not overbeat.

5.Transfer to the baking sheet and bake in oven for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

6.For icing,I used White Chocolate Buttercream,I wanted to make a shape of 3,so I baked 2 half sheet pans and placed them one over the other and cut them in the shape of a 3 with a knife.

7.Place the bottom layer on the cake sheet and place icing on top and spread it evenly,place the next layer and repeat.This is called as a crumb coat,basically the cake crumbs keep mixing with the icing here and won't give you a smooth icing.Once you finish this layer,place in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.

8.Remove from refrigerator and layer it with a second layer of icing.This layer will be free of crumbs because the previous layer will have hardened by now.

9.Decorate with your favorite icings,I just put some chocolate shavings on top.

Tips:

You can use the leftover cake after cutting to make cake truffles.

 See basics of baking for tips and tricks.

Place the cake outside for about 15-30 minutes before cutting ,it will give the buttercream a bit softer texture.If the climate is too hot,5 minutes outside should do.