Maybe it’s crazy, but there are times when the Sri Lankan in me wants to venture out and I end up craving for cup of tea (with less sugar).  However this tea cannot be taken alone - it has to have a small accompaniment to make the ‘te koppe’ experience perfect. Usually it’s a biscuit but this time my craving was a little more specific and required cake.


Therefore to satisfy a tea and cake urge and to also explore the world of cake baking, I chose this recipe from allrecipes.co.uk. It’s really simple and super easy, but me being the nervous baker I requested my sister Fari, a fabulous (literally the queen of desserts) cook in her own right, to supervise the process.


Effortless, convenient and absolutely delicious, this sponge cake is one of the best foods to have with your evening cup of tea. To every first time cake baker, this is the recipe to start with. It’s an absolute winner.



 

Ingredients
 

225 g of margarine
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup of sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla essence
1 tsp of baking powder


 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180 celsius.

Prepare a rectangular shaped cake tin.

Sift the flour in to a large heavy based mixing bowl.

Add the rest of the ingredients in to the bowl.

Using an electric whisk or mixer, whisk all the ingredients until it’s soft and fluffy.

Pour the batter in to the prepared cake tin and smoothen it out evenly.

Bake for about 30 - 40 minutes.

Once the cake has baked, retrieve it from the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes.

Then carefully run a butter knife across the edges of the pan and carefully turn the cake over on to a plate.  (OR place a flat plate on top of the tin and flip it over).

Turn the cake over and cut in to pieces.

Disasters, Warnings and Tips

Have a warm slice of this with a cup of tea and some jam. Yummy in the tummy!

These food shots were taken by my sister Fari.

You could use butter instead of margarine.

Monitor the cake baking by inserting a toothpick in to the middle; if it comes out with batter, the cake needs to be in a little longer.

Use a cake tin of your shape preference, I used my square-ish brownie tin.

Tea and cake? Think I’m becoming an 18th century English granny.

The sponge is so soft, it melts in your mouth… so good!

If you’re feeling fancy, do a layer of Nutella icing on top.

As an active butterfingers, I believe that the cake flipping thing is the trickiest.



Text by Shazzana Hamid