The first non-chocolate recipe in a while! I made this sponge cake for a regular Wednesday night dinner with my sister and one of our best friends a couple of weeks ago. We usually have dinner all together every Wednesday and watch our favourite TV show, Pretty Little Liars. Unfortunately Becca is in the UK at the moment so she can’t partake in the dinner, but we usually call her on a Wednesday at some stage and talk and we still watch PLL and have dinner (and usually dessert!). It’s been a long-standing tradition and it’s a good way to catch up every week, but this particular week was the first dinner of the new season so I wanted it to be special but I didn’t have a lot of time. This sponge was easy and yummy but still really light, so it made the perfect accompaniment to a mid-week dinner. I also wanted to try one of my new Christmas recipe books, Gran’s Sweet Pantry by Natalia Oldfield, who is the owner of Dulcie May Kitchen in Auckland. I’ve never been there but I’m so keen to go after reading this recipe book!
This sponge is a little bit special with the lemon and honey filling, but perfectly acceptable for afternoon tea as well. It would be a fantastic addition to your next dinner party or shared afternoon tea as it’s so versatile. Yum!
NB: Just a quick note, I am working on the next post but as it’s all about the wedding cake (for my lactose intolerant friend Sarah’s wedding) this week, that post won’t be until Sunday. Happy baking until then!
Hot Water Sponge with Lemon Honey and Cream
Ingredients
3/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup hot water
1 tspn vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
3/4 cup cream, whipped, for filling
Lemon Honey Filling
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
100g butter, cut into cubes
2 lemons, zested and juiced
Directions
- To make the lemon honey, place the eggs and sugar in a large pot and whisk together. Add butter and lemon zest and juice and heat over a medium heat, whisking continuously until mixture is smooth, thick and creamy. Set aside in the fridge until ready to use.
- Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line two 20cm round cake tins and set aside.
- To make the sponge cake, beat the eggs either in the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand beater in a large bowl until very thick (around 5-10 minutes). Add the sugar gradually. Stir in the hot water and vanilla essence, then sift the dry ingredients together and quickly fold together.
- Divide the mixture between the two tins. Bake for 15-20 minutes and then cool in the tins.
- Once cool, spread the lemon honey filling on one cake and top with the whipped cream, then place the other cake on top. Sift icing sugar on the top to finish off.
This is my favourite recipe from Gran’s Sweet Pantry. I make a single sponge with duck eggs and bake it for about ten minutes longer. It turns out taller and even fluffier than when regular chicken eggs and sandwich tins. I find the lemon honey recipe makes enough filling for four cakes, so I usually halve the quantities or have lots of yummy leftover lemon honey for dessert and snacks.