Sponge Cake!

I was inspired by a post this week over at 2paw where she made a yummy looking sponge cake. So here is mine! Sorry for the fuzzy phone photos. My camera was out of battery.



The cake has a non-traditional filling of Persimmon and Orange jam and then the usual whipped cream. The reason I put Persimmon and Orange jam is because we have a Persimmon tree (soft eating Persimmons) and we always have too many and are trying to find recipes to use them up. We've made Persimmon cakes, Persimmon chews and most recently Persimmon and Orange jam, which is seriously yummy! I've been eating it on toast every day since my mum made it :o)



So the cake was a hit but there are a few things I'd do differently:

• I had to cook it for longer. It has 15-18 minutes, at 15mins I checked it and it was very wobbly in the middle. Then I did another 4 mins and then 2 mins about 3 times until is was cooked.
• It was quite a wide but short cake (I think it was a non-measured 9" tin - ie my handspan plus a bit!) so next time I'd use the normal 7" tin (my handspan-ish) and make it higher. It will make it easier to cut into layers.

Pavlova!

I mentioned yesterday that I had loose plans, not all of which eventuated but I did have a great day - including enjoying the beautiful Melbourne weather!

So this morning I dropped into the Craft Expo. It was not too big and not overcrowded either. I managed to pick up some great scrapbooking and card making supplies and a few fat quarters to make a bag. Not too much really.

When I left there around midday, it was such a beautiful day outside I just wanted to enjoy it! I ducked by the supermarket to get some fruit and cream for the Pavlova and then home to get it in the oven. Whilst it was baking I just lounged around at home (including out in the sun on the lawn! Did I mention the weather was beautiful today?!).





The only think I didn't get done was some sewing! Oops! Oh well.

The Pavlova was for a family birthday celebration. It's not my birthday until December but I'm in this "group" when it comes to birthdays so I made the Pavlova as my cake. The other 2 cakes were chocolate on chocolate. I initially wasn't going to eat it (due to my Blogtoberfest personal challenge) but I caved and ate some ... so that makes it 2 strikes! I'm thinking that once October ends I'll revise this challenge to not eating chocolate that I have purchased. So it means I can't buy chocolate but if it's at a function or dinner and chocolate is served , then I can have some. This should still stop the 3:30pm munchies at work.

At least the Pavlova went down well!



If you want the recipe, it's from Masterchef. I decorated with blueberries, raspberries & mango and would consider shavings of chocolate over the top next time.

I did notice a couple of things with this recipe:

• The outer shell cracked which I think is due to too much sugar. I wonder if when I was measuring the egg whites if I was maybe 15mls under? I will pay more attention next time.
• I think the egg white "soft peaks" were maybe not quite stiff enough. When I went to shape it I couldn't get it as high as the photos in the magazine because it wasn't thick enough (Masterchef Magazine 1, with tips on styling).
• The cream was on for maybe 10-15mins before it was served and it started to collapse on one side. It was either too heavy toppings or due to the way the shell cracked. A second try at this recipe will hopefully improve on this.