Easy Old-Fashioned Spongecake

My mother's favorite summer cakes were all based on spongecake and summer fruit with whipped cream. They were light and not overly sweet, but always indulgent.


So when I spotted this strange spongecake recipe, I had to give it a try. It's a Better Homes and Gardens Recipe from the fifties that's supposed to be quick and easy.


However, I have to say this is one of the stranger recipes I have ever made. Not only is there no separation of eggs or gentle folding so they won't collapse, but logic would seem to dictate that the hot milk really ought to deflate the whole thing! 


Interestingly, they recommend baking it in a square pan. How very chic and modern for the fifties. I cut it in half to create two layers, added whipped cream and strawberries and had a fabulous dessert in no time.


The only major things to notice are that the eggs have to be room temperature and the sugar must be added slowly so the eggs won't deflate.

Hot Milk Spongecake

(from Better Homes & Gardens)

2 eggs (room temperature)
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter + extra for greasing pan

Take the eggs out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before using.

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x9 pan well with butter. Combine flour with baking powder and set aside.

Beat the eggs until thick, about 4 minutes. Slowly add the sugar. Beat for another 4-5 minutes. Add the flour mixture and beat just enough to combine. 


Heat the milk and the butter enough for the butter to melt. Pour into egg mixture and beat to combine. Pour into prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes.


Choose your own fruit. This would work equally well with blueberries or sliced peaches. I used about one pound of strawberries.

To make the cream:

1 - 2 cups of heavy cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar per cup of cream
splash of vanilla

Beat the cream until it begins to take shape. Add the sugar and continue to beat, adding the vanilla. Beat until it holds a shape.

Use a serrated knife to slice the cake in half horizontally. Spread cream over the cut side of the bottom half. Lay strawberry slices on top of the cream. Cover with the top half of the cake. Spread cream over the top. Arrange strawberries on the top in a pleasing pattern.

If there is leftover cream, pass it in a bowl when serving.

Angel Food Cake with a No-Brainer Blueberry Sauce

I love eggs. The incredible, edible egg really is an apt description. How many other foods work equally well in savory dishes and sweet ones?

If you're a fan of cooking competition shows like Top Chef and The Next Food Network Star, you've probably heard someone complain about having to bake something. Every season, some pro complains because baking requires exacting measurements and doesn't leave as much room for creativity as cooking. I'm not sure that's always true, but it is true about Angel Food Cake. Recipes for this classic don't vary much.

Around here, now that the cheesecake, cookies, and New Year's Bombe are gone, we're getting hungry for something sweet, so I decided to bake an Angel Food Cake. The ingredients are simple, you probably have them in your kitchen right now, and it's actually not all that hard to make. You do have to have a special pan, though.

You'll find that some recipes are positively scary, requiring superfine sugar and cake flour. I didn't use either. Instead, I mixed the dry ingredients and sifted them together a few times.

Angel Food Cake contains no fat! Yup, it's true. Ideal for all those diets everyone started after the holidays. If you're serving it to a dieting crowd, serve it with fresh fruit and Greek yogurt. Remember it does contain sugar -- it's not calorie-free! If dieting isn't a concern, serve it with whipping cream and fresh fruit. Or serve it with a sauce. I made a no-brainer blueberry reduction that's good enough for company.

Angel Food Cake

1 cup flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt

10 - 12 egg whites
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Sift into another bowl. Sift back into the original bowl. Repeat and set aside.

Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar. Hint #1 Don't overbeat. The egg whites should hold a curling peak, not a stiff peak.

Divide the egg whites. Sift some of the flour mixture on one half, sprinkle on the vanilla, and fold until blended. Repeat until all of the flour mixture has been folded in. Add the rest of the egg whites and fold in. Hint #2 If you add the flour gradually to the egg whites, they'll be more likely to stay fluffy.

Spoon/pour into an Angel Food Cake pan. Do not grease! Bake 45 minutes.

Remove from oven and turn upside down immediately. Some pans come with little feet, if yours does, you can let it rest on the feet. There are those who think that it's better if the cake is in the air. The conventional method is to hang the middle part from a bottle. The neck holds the cake pan and the bottle is sturdy enough (hopefully) not to topple. My pan has a tiny middle part that doesn't fit over a bottle. I turned four wineglasses upside down and let the edges of the cake pan rest on them. Hint #3 Let cool thoroughly upside down, even overnight. Loosen the edges to remove and turn over a serving plate. Hint #4 Slice with a serrated knife.

No-Brainer Blueberry Sauce

1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries
1/2 cup Cognac
1/4 cup orange liqueur
1/4 cup sugar

This is a really a no-brainer reduction. Combine all the ingredients in a small pot, stir, and bring to a boil. Turn down to just a bit more than a simmer (uncovered) and let cook until it reduces by half, about 45 minutes.

Enjoy!

Cleo Coyle's Buttermilk Apple Snack Cake for a Sweet New Year!

Congrats to our final gift card winner! Molly Ebert of Indiana won our last $25 Williams-Sonoma gift card. Stay tuned for more of our contests coming up in the near future...

A SWEET
NEW YEAR

On the Gregorian calendar, the New Year will be celebrated on January 1. On the Chinese calendar, the date for turning over a new leaf will be February 14. And on the Jewish calendar, the New Year (5770) is ushered in this very evening!

Rosh Hashanah literally means “first of the year” in Hebrew and it commemorates the creation of man—within the larger Biblical story of the creation of the world. It also begins the High Holy Days, a ten day period that culminates in the somber observance of Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement.

In synagogues across the world, the Jewish New Year is celebrated with many traditions, one of which is the blowing of the ram’s horn. The “shofar” is the name for this horn, and it’s blown like a trumpet to symbolically awaken the listeners from their slumbers and alert them to the coming judgment of God. In general, this is a time of year to reflect on the year you’ve had--especially mistakes and missteps—and contemplate how to do better in the year ahead.

Rosh Hashanah is a holiday rich in meaning and tradition. As with all holidays, food plays an important role. Apples are commonly eaten (dipped in honey – yum!) to symbolize a wish for a sweet year ahead. Honey cake is also a favorite.

Even though my Buttermilk Apple Snack Cake is not Kosher, I thought I’d share it with you today because of Rosh Hashanah’s apple tradition.

I love this cake because it’s easy to make and also very light, tender and buttery, with a delicate flavor of apple and the rich, bright note of buttermilk.

While it's a delish snack cake to eat any time year (and goes very well with a freshly brewed pot of joe), I think it’s especially comforting to slide into the oven on a fall afternoon when there’s that crisp chill in the air, the sun begins to set a little earlier than you're used to, and you’ve just come in from raking leaves, a long walk in the park, or picking those newly ripened apples...

To get my recipe for
Buttermilk Apple Snack Cake,

Click here.

The recipe will appear in PDF format.
You can print it out or save it to your computer.

For more of my recipes or to find out more
about the books in my culinary mystery series,
click this link to my virtual home at
www.CoffeehouseMystery.com

Finally, if you’d like a truly Kosher recipe for an apple cake, click here. The ladies who created this recipe know their stuff. They managed a catering company in Columbus, Ohio, for over twenty years.

In closing, a common greeting at this time is “Shana Tova” for a good year or “Shana Tova Umetukah” for a good and sweet new year. So...

Shana Tova Umetukah,
everyone!

~Cleo Coyle
author of the Coffeehouse Mysteries

www.CoffeehouseMystery.com/
"Where coffee and crime are always brewing..."