HELP! I need a fail safe sponge cake recipe for my dh birthday>>>>>>>....

[TenaLady]

I had a queer moment and offered to make one with jam and fresh cream for his work colleagues instead of him having to go out to the bakers and buy the shop up.

I find my cakes are either flat or very dry, so a great fail safe recipe would be great.

have you got a food mixer / cake mixer?

hand mixer (not great) I do believe I may have something tucked away in the back of a cupboard, you know, a Kenwood thingy.

Try this one: Delia's apparently fool proof sponge cake (you can omit the cocoa and add 2-3 drops of vanilla essence for a plain one). I call this "apparently foolproof" since both I and another non-baking friend have made this with great success. It hasn't failed me yet! 4oz Self Raising Flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 4oz soft marg 4oz caster sugar 2 large eggs 1 tablespoon cocoa powder 2 7 inch cake tins lightly greased & lined with greaseproof paper Preheat oven to Gas 3/325 F/170 c Sift flour/baking powder Add the other ingredients and whisk. I prefer "Bung all ingrediants into food mixer/processor" though and this seems to work fine! Add some water if the mixture doesn't drop off a spoon easily. Shove in the oven for 30 minutes (centre shelf). When cooked, leave in the tin for only 30 seconds.

I use it for DSs birthday cakes every year and it's not failed me yet.

And with formatting...

4oz Self Raising Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
4oz soft marg/butter
4oz caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 7 inch cake tins lightly greased & lined with greaseproof paper
Preheat oven to Gas 3/325 F/170 c
Sift flour/baking powder Add the other ingredients and whisk. I prefer "Bung all ingrediants into food mixer/processor" though and this seems to work fine!
Add some water if the mixture doesn't drop off a spoon easily.
Shove in the oven for 30 minutes (centre shelf).
When cooked, leave in the tin for only 30 seconds.

ooh thanks, >

8oz s/r flour
8oz caster sugar
4 eggs
8 oz soft butter

whack it in a mixer and mix for 2 mins

bake at 180 for 45 mins to an hour

voila madeira cake

Thanks for that Twiglett, will keep that for a later crisis!

Now back to the chocolate sponge, slight problem I only have 8" tins. Does this make a difference to the amount of ingredients I should use? (need a thick emoticon)

For 8" tins, you should make a mixture with 6oz sugar/6oz flour/6 oz fat/3 eggs.
I too have a chocolate cake recipe - with mine you mix, in your mixing bowl one heaped tbs cocoa powder with 2 tbs boiling water. Then add the above ingredients (soft brown sugar goes well instead of caster) plus a heaped tsp baking powder. Whisk away for 3 minutes, then put into your greased and lined tins. Bake 20 mins at Gas 4/180 C. This always come out nice and moist.

Soupy's recipe is basically the same thing though just adding baking powder and vanilla (which makes minimal difference although can't hurt)

for 8" pans I'd use an equation of 6 flour, 3 eggs, 6 butter, 6 sugar

keep with 1 baking powder and 1 tsp vanilla essence if you wnat

hth

Thanks everyone, he has gone off to work this morning with it.

When cooking it was looking good for the first 15 mins and rising beautifully but then for no apparent reason it seemed to drop a tad.

Nobody had opened the door or even breathed in the kitchen.

It looks good in any case.

He just rang me to say he had some unexpected company in his meeting this morning, the Managing Director and his side kick. Oh Jees, I hope i havent poisoned them all!