Sponge Cake (or what about English Desserts?)

Sponge Cake (or what about English Desserts?)
Traditional English food is not known for its gourmet, healthful or even edible qualities. Steak and kidney pie is appealing only to the initiated, Sunday's roast dinner is heavy enough to leave most in a post-meal stupor and the other famous English dishes are borrowed from other cultures. Chicken tikka masaala takes all its flavors and name from Indian food, fish and chips were brought to England by Jewish Portuguese exiles and even that great lamb stew is Irish in origin. But what English cuisine lacks on the savory side it tries to make up with the sweets. Sticky toffee pudding can be found on menus of even very chi-chi restaurants here in the US. Spotted dick, treacle tart, steamed pudding (the most famous of these is the annual Christmas pudding) and blancmange are all classic English desserts. They translate to other cultures with varying degrees of success (can you imagine if the public schools here tried to serve a food called spotted dick? The mass hilarity would scupper all attempts at decorum in the lunch room.) But everyone can agree that sponge cake has universal appeal. Baked round, split into layers then filled with jam and whipped cream and served sprinkled with powdered sugar is the way it appears most often in England. I like to bake it in individual sized cakes then glaze them with truffle ganache. The cake can be complicated and involve many steps and extra ingredients. Here is a basic, easy recipe and some suggestions. Make an English expat happy.To make one 8 inch round or 8 individual cakes:4 eggs9 tablespoons sugar(zest of one orange or lemon)1 cup and 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, siftedPreheat oven to 340 degrees F; grease your pans. Start with all ingredients at room temperature. Put the eggs and sugar in a large bowl, whisk or beat to mix then place over a pan of simmering water (not boiling - too hot and you'll get scrambled eggs.) If you are using zest add it at this point. Either using a whisk or an electric mixer beat the eggs and sugar until they are light and airy. The mixture should be thick enough for a visible ribbon (when you lift the mixer a ribbon of the mixture should stay on top for a few seconds before sinking in.) Remove from the heat and keep beating until cool. Add the sifted flour (the sifting is important in this recipe. If you don't have a sifter then pass the flour through a small sieve) in three additions, carefully folding it into the egg mixture each time. You want the flour to be thoroughly incorporated but don't want to mix it vigorously and deflate the eggs. Pour into pans, very gently shake to evenly distribute the batter. Bake until golden and spongy, for a large cake about 20-30 minutes; 10 for individual ones. Cool slightly, remove from pans, cool completely on rack or plate. Once it is cool cut the large cake in half, spread the bottom with raspberry jam and a thick layer of stiff, slightly sweet whipped cream. Replace the top layer and heavily sprinkle with powdered sugar. Garnish with fresh berries and eat. Or make a truffle ganache: heat 1/2 cup whole milk or cream then stir in 1 cup dark chocolate, a drop of orange oil and 1 tablespoon butter. Allow to cool slightly then glaze the individual cakes with the ganache. (To do this put the cakes on a rack and spoon the ganache over each one until it runs down the side. You can do two or three layers of chocolate, as it starts to cool it will make a thick truffle layer over the cake.) Allow to cool completely and the chocolate to harden. Serve with whipped cream, berries, ice cream, sorbet or plain. Yum!