Cake

Donna Hay's Caramel Sponge Cake

8/31/2010 09:10:00 PM


Light and fluffy sponge cake, mounds of whipped cream, and generous drizzles of caramel sauce. Evil, pure evil. That is how my boss described the caramel-sponge cake that I made for our office bake-off, to raise money for Jeans for Genes.

Prior to the day, I wasn't sure what to make and bring. I didn't want to go for anything too common, like a standard Swiss roll or carrot cake. (I'm glad I didn't, as other people brought them!) Having said that, I didn't want to make anything too weird and challenging.

In the end I chose a recipe I'd had my eye on for a while, but never tried - Donna Hay's caramel sponge cake recipe, from Modern Classics 2. It ticked all the boxes - cheap and quick to make, a little different, but not inaccessibly so. I never used to be good with whipped sponge cakes, but buoyed by the success of my recent Swiss roll, I thought it'd be alright.

The cake is a very simple sponge - just whipped eggs and sugar, with flour and melted butter folded through. The volume decreased a little as I folded the flour in, but it didn't seem to affect the finished product too much. I must say it smelled a little eggy after being baked, but I had a sneaky taste test (scooped some out of the middle with a teaspoon), and it tasted like normal cake. Next time I might use some vanilla extract to counter the egginess.

While the cakes were cooling, we went out and watched I Love You Phillip Morris at the MIFF. It was awesome - mega-love for Rodrigo Santoro and Ewan MacGregor! I assembled the cake after we came home. (See, this is why I needed a cake that could be made quickly!)

The caramel sauce itself is very easy, no scary spluttering sugar required. It's just cream and brown sugar...

...which you simmer rapidly for 8 minutes until well mixed and thickened slightly. (It thickens more as it cools). I used light muscovado sugar, as that was all that I had, and I think it gave the finished product a nice, deep caramel flavour.

Pardon me while I do a few (dozen) taste tests!

Then I had to whip the cream. I was in a mad rush, as it was already midnight by this stage, and I still hadn't packed my bag for the next day or cleaned anything up, and in the distraction I, er... whipped the cream quite a bit more than I normally do. Oops.

Super-stiff (heh).

I was scared it had turned to butter, but I tested it and it seemed fine. Just. (Do we see a theme here?) This was lucky, as it was 12:30am and I didn't have any more cream. Phew!

Anyhoo... assembling the cake is easy, as it looks better a little messy. I think you're aiming for the "billowing clouds" look with the cream, and the "Jackson Pollock" look with the caramel.

Layer 1

Repeat with the next sponge cake, and you are done!


The next day, I carried it on the tram all the way to work, and luckily, it arrived unharmed. We had about 15 cakes all up, and mine came 2nd and was auctioned for $40. Yay! My boss (who judged the bake-off) described the cake as pure evil. It tastes all light and fluffy, but definitely packs a mega calorific-bomb. I recommend small slices, if you can restrain yourself! I think of this cake as an easy crowd-pleaser.

And yes, that means that someone actually beat me in a bake-off! Yeah, I was shocked too. (Just kidding!!)

Don't forget to enter the draw to win your very own Panasonic Lumix TZ10! Just leave a comment on my post here. The competition closes this Friday!

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14 comments

  1. Woah, I can feel the sugar crawling through my system just looking at it, but while my head says no no no, my mouth and stomach says YES YES YES. I gotta try this!

    Sorry head.

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  2. your cake looks deceitfully yummy! i guess a few calories here and there won't hurt :)

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  3. YUUUM!! Holy cow that looks awesome. Omnomnom

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  4. I love donna Hay, her recipes are easy to follow and turn out brilliantly. the cake looks good

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  5. Sarah your cakes looks fabulous! Very clever and not too hard to do but totally impressive!!! Your Lumix is doing a great job with the photos too I might add!! Vida x

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  6. Sometimes naughty is good! That looks amazing!!

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  7. OMG look at all that caramel sauce just dripping off the side. Can I lick it?!

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  8. What was the winning cake?

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  9. What a great looking cake! I love caramel at the best of times but combined into the cake form outlined here would be irresitible for me!

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  10. I LOVE caramel. The caramel sauce method is interesting but I like how simple it is. Well done coming second, can't imagine what would beat that!

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  11. Hi Sarah, Looking for a good recipe for caramel sponge cake for my son's birthday. Just found this on the internet and it looks fantastic but the actual ingredients are not listed so I can not make it.

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  12. I guess I'll have to find another recipe.

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  13. Thanks for the comments guys!

    Thanh and Laura - the winning cake was a chocolate and nut torte, covered with strawberries and whipped cream. It was nice, but I think mine was better! (Not biased or anything, hehe!)

    Samantha - My policy on republishing recipes is here. I do not type up recipes on my blog because I cook from the same sources again and again, and it would be a breach of copyright. The source of the recipe is clearly stated, so you can find it yourself.

    Cheers,

    Sarah

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