Readers, I’m getting more experimental these days with
sponge cakes. I’ve realised that
birthday or celebration cakes can be more exciting than a standard Victoria
Sponge. Don’t get me wrong, there’s
nothing wrong with a classic cake every so often, however, sometimes just
adding a couple of extra ingredients puts a whole new dimension on a sponge
cake.
I was challenged to make something for a person who
absolutely doesn’t like chocolate cake (or anything chocolate related… really,
those people exist??!) but they love citrus cake. I didn’t want to make a
standard lemon drizzle, so decided to experiment with orange and cardamom.
The cardamom gives amazing nutty and spiced undertones to
the cake whilst the orange juice and zest make it light, fresh tasting and
airy.
This recipe is easily adaptable from a classic sponge cake aaaaannndddd... I'm also entering it into #recipeoftheweek over at A Mummy Too
Orange
and Cardamom Celebration Sponge Cake
Ingredients
200g self raising flour
200g unsalted butter (softened)
200g caster sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
4 medium eggs
Zest of 1 large navel orange (finely grated)
Juice of 1 large navel orange
1 heaped teaspoon ground cardamom
Cake Filling and Decoration
200g butter
300g Icing Sugar
2 heaped dessert spoons orange marmalade with champagne
Method
- Grease and line 2 x 8in cake pans. Preheat the oven to 190c/Fan 170c/Gas 5.
- Cream together the softened butter and sugar until light and creamy.
- Grate
in the zest of one large navel orange and mix to combine.
Note the orange colour once the zest has been added - Add in the eggs one by one, and fully stir in each egg with a teaspoonful of flour to prevent curdling, before adding in the next egg.
- Add
in the cardamom and mix to combine.
Adding in the ground cardamom - Once mixed, sift in the baking powder and self raising flour and mix until a cake batter is created.
- Juice one large orange and add the juice to your cake batter, stir to combine.
- Equally split the batter between the two cake pans and smooth out the top with a spatula.
- Transfer to the oven (same shelf) and bake for around 20 minutes until golden on top and a metal skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.
- Remove
from the oven, transfer to a cooling rack and cool in tins for a few
minutes, before removing from the tins and cooling fully on the cooling rack.
Fresh from the oven - While cakes are cooling begin prepping the frosting for the filling, top and edges.
- Soften
the butter using an electric mixer and when smooth, add in the orange
drizzle icing bit by bit until combined. Then, add in the plain icing
sugar and mix until fully combined and smooth, to a consistency which can
be spread with a pallet knife.
Smooth consistency of buttercream - Add in orange food colouring bit by bit, and mix until your buttercream frosting reaches the desired colour.
- Once
cakes are cooled, spread some of the frosting over half of the one of the
cakes and then top with the orange marmalade with champagne. Sandwich the two cakes together.
Top with the second cake to finish the sandwich - Decorate the top and sides with the frosting, to cover the entire cake and finish with additional décor as required.
- Refrigerate
on completion to firm up the decoration then store in an airtight
container for 2-3 days.
The finished cake before cutting