Basic Sponge Cake (Light)

This is the sponge cake recipe which I saw on Cuoca.com. This is an amazingly versatile light Japanese sponge cake with amazingly fine crumb structure. The original recipe is for Strawberry Shortcake, but you can really use the basic sponge for literally anything! I have adjusted some parts of it to suit our taste... and you can even watch a step-by-step video on how to do it here <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bHMBuxrQzf8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> 

Sponge Cake (Cuoca) – 15cm (6”) – Strawberry Shortcake

Ingredients:	6”	7”
Whole Eggs	2 (100g)	4 (200g)
Castor Sugar	65g	130g
Unsalted Butter	20g	40g
Milk	15g	30g
Vanilla X	½ tsp	1tsp
Cake Flour	60g	120g

Dairy Cream                    350g
Castor Sugar                   28g
Strawberry Syrup            18g
Strawberry S Size           12 pcs + 4 for garnish

Eggs to be brought to room temperature, sift the flour, line pan with baking paper on the sides and bottm. Preheat oven to 170°C. Melt butter and mix with milk at about 50°C
Put eggs in bowl and whisk to loosen, add in sugar and beat with mixer in a hot water bath (to warm to body temperature while whisking). Remove from heat and continue beating until ribbon stage.
After ribbon stage is reached, switch back to hand-whisk and stir-beat until you get smooth batter with fine bubbles.
In a separate bowl containing melted butter, warm milk and vanilla, take some batter and mix to get lighten up and get a closer consistency (combine better later).

Add in flour to main batter and fold in lightly until no more flour  is visible.
Add in butter/milk/vanilla batter and fold to mix well.
Pour into prepared tin, drop a couple of times to remove large air bubbles and bake for about 25mins until cake springs back to touch.
Remove from tin about 10mins after its out of the oven and set to cool in in the paper.
Assemble cake: Trim of browned top and bottom of cake. Use aluminum ruler to help in measuring while cutting into 1cm slices. Wrap sliced sponge in plastic wrap to prevent drying until ready for use.
Whip cream with strawberry syrup on ice water bath.

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This is my ultimate favourite chocolate cake! Super comfort food which would literally cheer me up when I'm down... and makes an event complete... Not difficult to make, but very tricky to cook. Once its overcooked, you get a dry and hard product. Undercook it, you get gooey madness... It has to be just right, to be in the wonderful state of velvety and rich taste, while maintaining a moist and light crumb structure. This recipe, which I received as a subscription to Food Republic won me over... and I have not found anything I like better than this one... (after going through hundreds of similar recipes)... so here it is...

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Servings: 10 servings

Ingredients
Cake:
2 1/2 cups cake flour   (312.50g)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature  (113.4g)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk (or can use 1 cup sour cream)
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature  (170.11g)
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature  (340.19g)

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted (Add to taste)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:
Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and make sure the rack is  in center of oven. Butter two 9- inch round cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl sift the flour, salt and cocoa powder together.
3. In an electric mixer or with a hand held mixer beat the butter until soft. Then add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition until it is well incorporated.
5. Scrape the sides of the mixing bowl and add the vanilla. Beat until combined.
6. In a little bowl combine the buttermilk and red food coloring. With the mixer on low, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture.
7. In a different bowl combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.
8. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops.Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.
9. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then invert, lifting off the pan.
10. Once they have completely cooled, wrap in plastic and place the cake layers in the freezer for at least an hour or overnight. This is how the pros do it. It makes icing and assembling the cake so much easier.

 
Cream Cheese Frosting

1. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
2. Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and beat until smooth.
3. Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the heavy cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to spread. Add more cream as needed to get the right consistency.

 
Assembly

1. With a long serrated knife cut each cake layer in half, horizontally. You'll now have four cake layers. Place one layer, top of the cake facing down, onto your serving platter. Spread the cake layer with frosting.
2. Place another layer of cake on top of the frosting and continue to frost and stack the cake layers. Frost the top and sides of the cake.

Source: http://www.foodrepublic.com/2011/07/25/red-velvet-cake-cream-cheese-icing