Delicious Sponge Cake Recipe by Sophie Brown | Dearest Lou

Delicious Sponge Cake Recipe by Sophie Brown


Hello friends! I wanted to let you know I'm still here and still pregnant. I've been having continuous braxton hicks contractions every 7-10 minutes for the last 15 hours but still no baby and they haven't gotten to the point where they're unbearable (hence why I'm calling them braxton hicks and not real contractions I'm sure I will KNOW when those bad boys kick in). I have some cute pictures I need to edit of my 39 week bump but in the mean time I would like to have my featured sponsor of the month Sophie take over and share a yummy recipe with you guys. Without further adieu here's Sophie!
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Hey, Dearest Lou readers! I'm Sophie and I blog over at Lover Baker Homemaker about everything – but mainly food, baking, crafts and a bit of my life. I've been trying to decide what recipe I wanted to share with you all. I've gathered so many up in my recipe folder that choosing just one is impossible! So, I thought I'd share my basic cake recipe along with a few variations. Once you've got the hang of a basic sponge cake, you can make anything from classic sandwiches to cupcakes and traybakes to loaf cakes! Sometimes it takes a few attempts to get the basic sponge just right, as everyone's ovens are different, and everyone uses different sized tins and cupcake cases, but once you've got the recipe working for you – you'll be a cake making machine! 

This recipe will make one sandwich cake, 12 cupcakes, 18 fairy cakes or a large loaf cake.

All you need:
- 8oz butter or margarine
- 8oz caster sugar
- 8oz self-raising flour
- 4 eggs 

To make the batter, simply cream the butter and the sugar together, then whisk in the eggs and fold in the flour. Voila! You've got the basis for any cake you want to make. 

From this point on – you can be as creative as you want! Here are a few of my favorite variations:
Chocolate muffins:
Add 4 tbsp of cocoa powder, some chocolate chips and a splash of milk. 

Oreo cupcakes:
Mix in 2 tbsp of coca powder, then crush up a packet of Oreo's in a food processor until they're super fine and fold them into the mix. Pop an Oreo in the bottom of each cupcake cade before spooning the mixture in and baking. Delicious! 
Carrot cake/cupcakes:
This is the only one with a little change in the basic cake mix! Half the amount of caster sugar, and replace the other 4oz with brown or muscovado sugar. Grate 200g of raw carrots into the mix, then add a tbsp of mixed spice and the zest of one orange. Add a splash of OJ and spoon the mixture into a loaf tin or cupcake cases to bake. Perfect with cream cheese frosting!

Blueberry muffins:
Add a tsp of vanilla extract, a handful of blueberries and sprinkle in some icing sugar.
Almond and jam cake/cupcakes: 
Add a tsp of vanilla extract and a tsp of almond essence to the cake mix, then fold in 250g of ground almonds. If you're making a cake then bake it in two halves and add the jam in the middle of the sandwich afterwards, but if you're making cupcakes then spoon the mixture into the cases and drop a big tsp of raspberry jam in the middle before baking!

It's difficult to put a time and temp on all of these cakes and bakes – as I said previously everyone's ovens vary. But I bake my sandwich cakes and muffins for 25 minutes on gas mark 5. For conversions check out the BBC Good Food website.

I hope you've enjoyed reading a bit more about how easy it is to make pretty much every cake you could ever want! The possibilities really are endless, but if you ever run out of inspiration then head over to my blog where I post adaptations of this recipe a lot, along with lots of other tasty treats! If you have a go at any of the recipes above, then give me a shout – I'd love to see! 

6 comments

  1. Those cupcakes look yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummy!!! :-)

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  2. Nominated you for a Liebster Award Lou! :)
    http://ellasdiaries.blogspot.com/2012/11/liebster-award-nomination.html

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  3. yammm... its look soo good thank you for the recipe :)

    <3 Ren
    http://typeofashopaholic.blogspot.co.il/

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  4. love this muffin and also your blog! It's so nice!!! I follow you!
    Pass to my blog and if it likes you follow me too, I will be so glad :D
    kisses
    http://francescagiusti.blogspot.com/

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  5. No here's the question? Is self raising different from multi-purpose flour? Shows how much I know right :) And Cecilia, you are such a trooper because I'd have been at the doctors days ago!

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