Moist Sponge Cake

[charliesmummyx]

Hi Everyone,
I am making my sons 1st birthday cake this week. Ive done trial runs and they have come out good. But I was just at a wedding yesterday and OMG the cake was to die for, moist, light & fluffy. So I want to know how I can make my cake more moist please??

The recipe I use is:
6 oz Stork
6 oz caster sugar
6 oz self raising flour
3 eggs

All tips welcome please, I want to make the best cake EVER :o)

You should beable to get a moist cake if you can manage to catch it just on the point of cooking. Some recipes have timings that are too long and so dry out the cake. A gentle press with a finger on the top with the sponge bouncing back and all should be OK. You could add a tablespoon or 2 of milk but then the cake will possibly not rise so well.

P.S. The addition of a little vanilla essence with make it tasty - that is presuming that you are making a plain sponge.

Agree re timings, also fan ovens dry out cakes, if you can, switch the fan off.

Butter rather than Stork gives a better flavour. Eat on the day its made for tip top freshness.

OK thanks. If I turn my fan off what temp shall I cook it and for how long do you think? Its an 11" teddy bear cake.
:-)

I would go maybe 10 degrees higher maximum, what fan temp were you on?

No idea on times for that size, I'd keep an eye and a skewer for testing handy.

I add a teaspoon of glycerine to really moisten it, an extra teaspoon of baking powder, and use Trex. Everyone comments on how nice my sponge is

Also, imo, you get the best result by weighing eggs, then using equal weight of flour, sugar, fat (20% less if Trex). 1/2 tsp of really good vanilla extract per egg, 1 tsp of glycerine, 1tsp of baking powder, and enough milk to make the mixture easily drop off the whisk

I use plain flour and baking powder rather than self-raising as I think it rises better this way; half and half butter and stork (butter tastes nicer but stork makes it lighter IMO). Using the freshest eggs you can also helps I think - tried it with duck eggs at the weekend and it was nicer than usual according to the rest of the family.

Okay, I'm going in. I have trex and glycerine, neither of which I have used before and am turnin off the fan on the oven.

Wish me luck!

Is Trex like lard?

always have success with stork.catch it when just cooked.so it just bounces back.often timing make you go til its done.and u want to almost get it just before so that the residual heat finishes it.
eat on day.let it cool then wrap immediately.
make sure your eggs are large enough.
don't overbeat

Use a hand whisk and high sift the flour.

Depending on the shape, the teddy bear's arms, legs and ears may cook before the rest of the cake. Keep an eye and cover the sticking out bits with silver foil to reflect the heat away if it looks like some parts may "catch".

(Or bake a rectangular cake and use the baking tin as a template to cut out the teddy bear shape afterwards.)