What do you call this cake?

[DousedInZoflora]

Old handwritten recipe of my great grandmother's, no title, but it says "good for birthdays" - so I'm giving it a go for DD's birthday cake (hope I don't regret it)

4oz self raising flour, 4oz caster sugar, 1/4 pint water, flavouring, 4 eggs. Whisk eggs for 10 minutes while boiling water and sugar into a sticky syrup. Add flavouring to syrup if desired. Whisk syrup into eggs, beat for another 10 minutes. Add flour and beat in quickly. Pour into prepared tin and bake in a slow oven

Thank you for sharing this recipe!

What flavourings would you use? Vanilla essence?

It's a fatless sponge.

Sorry this was meant to be in chat!

I'm putting lemon zest and juice in for flavour

my mum uses this recipe all the time, its lovely and light but be aware that it wont last as long as cakes with fat in them (never an issue in this house.....)

It’s a type of fat-less sponge, similar to a Genoise but the method isn’t quite the same as that uses a Bain-Marie to heat the eggs and sugar rather making a sugar syrup

Oh, it'll be eaten by tomorrow teatime

Christ though, it's not looking very good in the oven

I would call it hot water sponge, sticky and delicious mmmm

I would've gone sweet rather than lemon with having no fat and all - let us know how it turns out

I think adding lemon juice to the liquid would change the proportions, and might be the reason it isn't looking very good. I'm sure it will taste good though.

It's actually turned out really well. I turned up the heat a little, and the lemon seems to have been fine - it's a sponge, crumb seems as you'd expect, but I tasted a stray crumb and it has an almost caramelised barley sugar taste to it. Also it sliced really well- I'm crap at slicing, so I usually bake sponges in two tins, but this is a shaped tin so I had to slice- did so nice and cleanly. Hurray!

Can you post a picture?

I'd say that it's what's known as a Whisked Sponge (because sponges should be fatless anyway, it's just Victoria Sponge that has fat) - but, I've never seen that amount of hot water in one before.

I must try this recipe!

Do you really have to whisk the eggs for 10 minutes? Do you do it by hand?

Yes you do, no I use an electric whisk.

This is outing as I've already sent this to a few friends this is the top tier before slicing. It went a little browner than it should because toddler was climbing over me. It was a little thinner than the bottom tier, but I've sliced, sandwiched and iced both, and it looks like a proper tall cake now! If you ignore my dreadful icing skills. I can actually bake reasonably well, but I cannot decorate, and I'm no good at anything fiddly. I'll update on the overall taste/squidginess/popularity with other cake eaters tomorrow

Oh it looks lovely! Will you post photos of the finished cake, too, please?

I used electric too, for a little less than 10 as my electric whisk is very speedy. It was almost spot on to the time the syrup was made

I might do, I've buggered up the buttercream a bit (fondant bottom, buttercream top, awkward family preferences) so I'm going to pick flowers tomorrow morning to hide it, and also it is going to have Bing on it as DD is two, so it will truly be something to behold

What temp did you do it at op? Or is slow oven, slow cooker? I think I might have to give it a go!

Fatless sponge. Swiss roll is usually made with a fatless sponge mixture iirc.

160 seemed about right, non fan assisted

It was much better with fondant icing too, the top tier was perfectly nice with butter cream, but bottom fondant tier was really lovely and squidgy

Amazing, thank you!

Did you make the fondant icing? I have never tasted a bought fondant icing that was nice TBH.

I hope your DS had a lovely birthday.