Chocolate Sponge Cake Recipe – A Birthday treat!

[schema type=”recipe” name=”Chocolate Sponge Cake Recipe – A Birthday Treat!” author=”Rachel Howard” pubdate=”2014-03-02″ image=”http://www.sundaybaking.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Chocolate-victoria-sponge-700.jpg” description=”A classic Victoria Sponge variation with a fresh strawberries and cream filling. Decorated with wafer curls, a box of chocolates, chocolate dipped strawberries and a sprinkle of glitter! ” prepmins=”15″ cookmins=”20″ yield=”8″ ]

Everyone has their baking disasters and I have had my fair share this week. It started off when I made some Eton Mess Cupcakes (I’ll post these soon) and I split and ruined the cream at 9pm meaning I couldn’t finish them until the next day. And yesterday, I made 3 versions of this cake before time got the better of me. The first one (which was a different recipe) burnt and tasted awful, the second didn’t rise and the third was passable.

It was my baby sister’s 30th birthday on Friday and her husband arranged a secret party for her last night. So that is what this cake was for. I wanted to make something fun yet sophisticated (just like my sister….ha ha) so decided on a chocolate box type of cake. My original idea was to make a square shaped cake and place bars of chocolate around the edges to make it look like an actual box of chocolate. But when the first square cake failed (and my only square cake tin leaked cake mixture out of the loose bottom) I decided to go for a round version and I think it looked brilliant.

Recipe takes from Cake by Rachel Allen:

***TIP*** – When I split this cake batter between the 2 tins I got 2 pretty flat cakes. The second time I used all the mixture in one tin and got a much better result so if I was making this again I would double the ingredients for 2 cake tins

[callout title=Ingredients for the Chocolate Sponge:]

• 175g butter – softened
• 175g cater sugar
• 3 eggs
• 175g plain flour
• 25g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbs milk

[/callout]

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180C and line your cake tins (I use spray release)
• Cream the butter until soft in a large bowl
• Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy
• Whisk the eggs together in a small bowl
• Gradually add the eggs to the mixture, beating all the time
• Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder
• Add the milk and gently fold together
• The recipe says to divide this between two 7in cake tins which is what I did originally.
• Place in the centre of the oven for 18-25 minutes

Once cooled you can sandwich the cakes together using any filling you wish. I chose a fresh strawberries and cream filling –

You will use some of the strawberry ‘jam’ in the cream so make this first –

[callout title=Ingredients for the strawberry ‘jam’:]

• About 15 medium strawberries finely diced
• 100g granulated sugar
• 2 Tablespoons cornflour

[/callout]

Method:

• Place the strawberries in a small saucepan over medium heat
• Stir constantly for about 4 full minutes until the strawberry juices have been released
• Add the sugar and cornflour and continue to stir for another 2 minutes
• The mixture will be much thicker
• Remove from heat and allow to cool

[callout title=Ingredients for the Strawberry Cream:]

• 350g whipping cream
• 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp  strawberry ‘jam’

[/callout]

Method:

• In a large bowl, whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla extract together on high speed until stiff peaks begin to form, about 4-5 full minutes.
• Add the strawberry ‘jam’ and continue to beat for another 30 seconds.

When everything is ready assemble your cake. This is how I finished mine –

• Place one cake upside down on a plate and spread with cream
• Spread a layer of jam on top
• Place the second cake on top
• Cover with cream – all over the top and sides
• Quickly place wafer curls around the edge and secure with a ribbon
• Top the cake with a box of chocolates
• I also dipped some fresh strawberries into melted chocolate to add to the display
• Finish with a sprinkle of edible glitter 

The cake looked beautiful on the party table and everyone commented on how great it looked.

Would I use this recipe again?….maybe not. It definitely wasn’t the best of chocolate cakes I have had. The taste was there, but it felt a little dry to me. It definitely needed all the cream that I smothered it in. It was lighter in taste than a lot of chocolate cakes though so a lot less sickly, but unfortunately it wasn’t as light in texture as I would have liked. Thinking back, I should have followed the chocolate cake recipe I made for the Pizza Cake!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY!….I hope your head isn’t too sore this morning! x