A new look at an old sponge cake recipe, the pros and cons

Making changes to cake recipes is tricky. You never know how the result will actually turn out. Is it too dry? Will the oven time need changes? How much beating is enough? The cake recipe my sister sent me all those years ago called for baking in a packet or tube tray. As the cake starts out in a cold oven, heating slowly to a very low temperature for a long baking time, using an angel food cake pan or other pan that separates at the base is disastrous. I say this from experience. The oven was a mess.

Difficulties with this recipe

The only problem with the cake is that it has always stuck to the pan. It comes out in pieces. It is still delicious. It can be used cut in a little bit. It can be used as a cake with fruit on top. It just isn’t very pretty. An angel food tray would have been ideal as it’s easy to run a knife around the edges to separate, lift the portion of the tube, and then run the knife around the base. But you can’t bake in that kind of pan. My thinking has been that using a couple of loaf pans would work. The recipe is great and could easily make 2 smaller loaf pans. A loaf pan has straight sides, which makes coating with parchment easier and therefore eliminates the problem of sticking to the pan. This is not possible in a pack or other solid tube tray as they usually have a pattern. But, I was wondering, how about a silicone skillet?

Changes and substitutions

Today I decided to take the plunge and try the silicone skillet. I also decided to change the recipe slightly. The old recipe tastes wonderful, so taste was never the problem. I recently wrote an article on using coconut milk instead of regular milk or cream for recipes, and decided to give this a try. The original recipe called for lemon seasoning. I substituted it for a very small amount of pure lime oil. These flavors give it a slightly tropical flavor. Tropical sounded great to me, on a day that started at minus 12 degrees.

The original recipe calls for placing the skillet in a cold oven and setting the oven temperature to 325 degrees. The time for the cake was 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Maybe because I added things to the recipe, with a little more liquid, a little more flour, and an extra egg, it took a full 2 ​​hours to fully bake. Doing this again, I think I would start the cake in a preheated 325 degree oven and see how that affects the result. For now, even though I used the silicone mold, the cake still stuck. The taste is fantastic. Next time, the loaf pans will be the star of the day. Here is my recipe.

Tropical sponge cake

3 sticks of unsalted butter

1/4 cup oil

5 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

¼ teaspoon pure Boyajian lime oil, or substitute the grated rind of a lime

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cup coconut milk

Beat the first 3 ingredients together. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the aromas. Whisk the flour in 3 separate additions, interspersed with the coconut milk.

If using a silicone skillet, spray the skillet with cooking spray. Pour the batter and place the pan on a small baking sheet in a cold oven. Bake for about 2 hours, or until a long skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in skillet before removing.

If using 2 loaf pans, spray each with cooking spray, then cut two pieces of parchment for each pan. One piece should fit the length of the pan, extending to the sides as well. The second piece should fit the width of the pan, as well as spread out to the sides. Spray a second time, to ensure easy removal later. Turn the loaf pans in a cold oven, set the oven to 300 degrees and bake for about 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Thanks for taking the time to read my article. I hope it was informative and helped you on your own culinary journey.